Assistant Professor – Phenomics Applied to Plant Breeding

About the role

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture seeks a tenure‑track Assistant Professor to lead a research program in phenomics for plant breeding. The position combines 80% research with 20% teaching and is part of a cluster hire focused on multi‑omics integration and data analytics.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and lead cutting‑edge research in high‑throughput phenotyping, sensor integration, and AI‑driven trait extraction for multiple crops.
• Collaborate with breeders in soybean, rice, fruits, vegetables, and wheat to embed phenomics outputs into selection pipelines.
• Secure extramural funding from federal agencies, commodity boards, and industry partners.
• Teach one undergraduate and one graduate course annually in remote sensing, phenomics, or related data‑analytics topics.

Required profile

• Ph.D. in plant science, agronomy, engineering, computer science, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ability to develop interdisciplinary research programs and publish in peer‑reviewed journals.
• Experience mentoring graduate and undergraduate students.

Required skills

• High‑throughput phenotyping platforms (UAVs, robotics, ground‑based systems).
• Multispectral, hyperspectral, LiDAR, and satellite imaging.
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistical modeling, and computer vision for trait extraction.
• Data analytics and high‑performance computing (e.g., Arkansas HPC cluster).