Rate My Professor Jianfeng Zhou

Jianfeng Zhou is an Associate Professor of Agricultural Systems Technology in the Division of Plant Science and Technology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he also holds an appointment as Associate Professor for Agricultural Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Washington State University in 2014, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwest A&F University, China, in 2006, and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the same university in 2001. His professional career includes serving as Postdoctoral Associate at Washington State University from 2014 to 2016, Research Assistant there from 2010 to 2014, and Lecturer at Northwest A&F University from 2001 to 2010. Zhou joined the University of Missouri in 2016 with a research and teaching appointment and currently directs the Precision and Automated Agriculture Lab while co-directing the Digital Agriculture Research and Extension Center.

Zhou's research specializes in digital and precision agriculture technologies for climate-smart crop and animal production, encompassing AI-enabled high-throughput crop phenotyping, robotic harvesting for specialty crops, precision livestock farming, autonomous tractor technology, computer vision, and IoT-based decision support systems. He has authored more than 50 journal papers, six book chapters, edited two books—High-throughput Crop Phenotyping (Springer, 2021) and Unmanned Aerial Systems in Precision Agriculture (Springer, 2021)—and holds invention disclosures and patents. Key publications include Yield estimation in cotton using UAV-based multi-sensor imagery (Biosystems Engineering, 2020), Classification of soybean leaf wilting due to drought stress using UAV-based imagery (Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2020), and Estimation of the maturity date of soybean breeding lines using UAV-based multispectral imagery (Remote Sensing, 2019). Among his honors are the ITSC Paper Award from ASABE (2020), Outstanding Paper Reviewer for ASABE (2019, 2017), Outstanding Reviewer for Computers and Electronics in Agriculture (2018, 2017), and Outstanding Reviewer for Biosystems Engineering (2017). Zhou serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Plant Science and Journal of ASABE, and teaches courses such as Sensor and Control Technology for Agricultural Systems, Internet of Things for Agricultural Systems, and Optimization and Management of Food and Agricultural Systems.