Liang Dong, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Microelectronics Research Center at Iowa State University, is set to become the University of Georgia’s newest Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, effective Aug. 1.
Dong joins UGA after nearly 18 years at Iowa State, where he developed a reputation as a thought leader and innovator in sensors and precision agriculture. His research has contributed to novel sensing and measurement techniques for real-time monitoring of soil conditions, plant health and environmental factors. These innovations have improved agricultural management practices and supported crop breeding efforts by facilitating the development of new cultivars with improved resilience to a range of stresses.
“I am very grateful for the University of Georgia’s ongoing partnership with the Georgia Research Alliance,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “Dr. Dong’s work will drive collaborative research efforts as he advances innovative and sustainable solutions that greatly benefit our state’s agricultural industry.”
The Georgia Research Alliance is a nonprofit, public-private partnership that invests state funds to recruit top scientific talent, enhance labs and promote discovery and entrepreneurship to drive economic impact in Georgia. GRA Eminent Scholars are leading experts in their respective fields at Georgia’s top research universities. Collectively, the scholars attract hundreds of millions of dollars in public and private grants each year.
Dong will be UGA’s 19th current GRA Eminent Scholar.
“Dr. Dong works at the intersection of agriculture and technology, a crucial area for improving crop yields and enhancing food production,” said GRA President and CEO Tim Denning. “He is also a highly collaborative researcher focusing on bringing exciting new technologies to benefit farmers and food producers. UGA and the state of Georgia are extremely fortunate to have him here.”
At UGA, Dong will be the GRA Eminent Scholar in Precision Agriculture, with a joint appointment in the colleges of Engineering and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He will also serve as associate director for research at the Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture. There, he will have opportunities to advance his sensor research for crop varieties in Georgia, the Southeast and beyond.
“Through his interdisciplinary research, Dr. Dong is setting new standards in precision agriculture, and it is a pleasure to welcome him to our world-class faculty,” said Benjamin C. Ayers, the university’s senior vice for academic affairs and provost. “He will play a vital role as UGA advances discoveries that support farmers and our state’s expansive agriculture industry.”
“Georgia is really an exciting place for me to continue my sensor research because it offers a wide range of important crops that you don’t find everywhere,” Dong said. “The environmental conditions in the Southeast are quite different from what I’ve previously worked with, which opens a lot of new possibilities.”
“It’s a great opportunity to push forward with developing low-cost, high-performance sensing technologies that can benefit farmers, researchers and other stakeholders.”
Dong sees advanced and affordable sensing technologies as a crucial piece to the 21st century agricultural puzzle. Drones, satellites and weather stations provide extensive information about broad crop, soil and environmental conditions, but they fall short of directly telling us what’s happening inside the plants, especially at the molecular level. Real-time monitoring of things like plant physiological signals can significantly enhance our understanding of plant status under varying environmental conditions and management practices. These insights can, in turn, accelerate plant breeding, improve crop yields and help mitigate negative environmental impacts.
“Deep sensing using affordable sensors can help fill the gap,” he said. “I think of plants as the end user. Much like people are end users for biomedical devices, which can collect data to improve health care, wearable sensors for plants can report molecular-level indicators such as nutrient levels, hormone activity and sugar concentrations without having to cut the plant and send samples to the lab. That means faster, more cost-effective results.”
His presence at UGA will provide a mutually beneficial partnership for the university as it expands its research in precision agriculture.
“Dr. Dong’s expertise in developing plant sensors will significantly bolster the work we are doing at UGA to improve production efficiency of our growers,” said George Vellidis, director of the Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture. “His most recent sensor, for example, can be attached directly to a plant leaf to detect stress caused by disease, insects or drought. This is an amazing early warning system, which we can use to respond to harmful conditions and avoid widespread damage to crops.”
