Xin Zhang

Dr. Xin Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Mississippi State University. His research focuses on smart agriculture, AI applications, agricultural robotics, and unmanned aerial systems. He leads the Sensing & Automation in Agrisystems (SAAS) Lab, which develops technologies for crop monitoring, robotic harvesting, and machine vision systems. Dr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. from Washington State University and has held postdoctoral positions at UC Davis. He is a FAA-certified UAS pilot and actively collaborates on projects involving machine learning, computer vision, and precision agriculture.

Research interests include digital agriculture frameworks, crop prediction models, and the integration of AI into farming systems. Key achievements include pioneering work in robotic cotton-picking simulations and UAV-based yield estimation. His lab emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches combining robotics, data science, and environmental engineering.

Awards include the 2020 Giuseppe Pellizzi Prize for agricultural engineering research and multiple ASABE accolades. Current projects involve scalable field extraction frameworks using satellite imagery and deep learning models for plant phenotyping. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles, with a focus on advancing automation in crop handling and environmental sensing technologies.

Education: Ph.D., Biological & Agricultural Engineering (WSU), M.S., Agriculture (Northwest A&F University), B.S., Agronomy (Gansu Agriculture University).