Lav Khot

Lav Khot is an Associate Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at Washington State University (WSU), serving as Director of AgWeatherNet, the largest agricultural weather network in the U.S. He leads research in precision agriculture, focusing on sensing and automation technologies for crop management. His work integrates crop sensing, IoT systems, and decision support tools to optimize resource use in specialty crop production.

Dr. Khot holds a Ph.D. from North Dakota State University and advanced degrees from institutions in India, Thailand, and the U.S. His career includes postdoctoral research at the University of Florida. He balances roles at WSU’s Pullman campus and Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center (IAREC).

Research Interests: His program emphasizes site-specific precision management, including crop sensing via ground/aerial systems, IoT-enabled cyber-physical systems, edge/cloud computing for decision support, smartphone apps for data delivery, and data-driven agricultural machinery design. Recent projects address heat stress mitigation in fruit crops, drone applications in vineyards, and fixed spray systems for efficient chemical delivery.

Awards: Recipient of the 2022 National Excellence in Multistate Research Award for UAS (drone) applications in agriculture, named to Fruit + Vegetable 40 Under 40 (2021), and winner of the 2024 CAHNRS Early Career Excellence Award.

Advising & Grants: Supervises graduate students (e.g., Mark Schrader, Abhilash Chandel) and collaborates on multi-state research initiatives. Funds projects through USDA-NIFA, state grants, and industry partnerships. Leads AgWeatherNet, providing real-time weather data for growers.

Labs/Teams: Directs WSU’s AgWeatherNet and collaborates with the Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems (CPAAS). Active in ASABE and the IEEE, presenting at national/international conferences. Hosts Ag Tech Day events to showcase innovations like spray technologies and robotic systems.