Description

The USDA-ARS Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory at Beltsville MD is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Scientist to join a highly collaborative team developing an automated field phenotyping system with decision support tool for crop stress detection. As part of the assignment, the postdoctoral researcher will 1) calibrate and test spectral measurements and adapt the automated HTP systems for field deployment, 2) acquire and analyze hyperspectral and RGB image data, and 3) conduct experiments to assess system robustness and applicability across different crop types and stresses.
For more information, see: https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/USDA-ARS-NEA-2026-0158

Requirements

The qualified candidate should have received or be currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the one of the relevant fields (e.g.  plant physiology, remote sensing, agricultural engineering, or a related field). Degree must have been received within the past three years or is anticipated to be received by 9/1/2026.

Preferred skills:

• Experience with agricultural field experiments, including experimental design and data collection
• Remote sensing and/or physiological data collection from plants, preferably related to agricultural production and crop stress
• Design of modular sensing systems (hyperspectral spectrometers, digital cameras, and robotics) for field-based phenotyping
• Data management and analytics from multi-stream remote sensing platforms
• Use of Python, CRBasic, Matlab, C++, R, or other programming language for automated data collection, analyses and visualization are recommended
• Strong teamwork, communication, and organization skills

U.S. Citizenship is required for this position.