Weed Zappers and Plant Whisperers

Sunoj Shajahan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on applying advanced data analytics including machine learning and deep learning to multi-source geospatial data to develop data-driven decision support tools for agriculture in near real-time. His key areas of expertise include precision agriculture, remote sensing, computer vision, geospatial analysis, and spectroscopy.

I am interested in the genetic control of variation in physiological traits of C4 plants, especially water use efficiency.

Robin William Warne is a physiological ecologist and Assistant Director for Research at the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also serves as affiliate faculty in the School of Integrative Biology. His research centers on linking ecological factors and organismal systems to understand homeostasis, developmental plasticity, and disease processes, with particular emphasis on how gut microbiomes interact with neuroendocrine systems in amphibians. Using tools ranging from stable isotope physiology and endocrinology to evolutionary ecology modeling, his lab investigates diverse creatures including frogs, lizards, rodents, and insects.