Associate/Full Professor, Prediction based plant breeding
This is a senior-level faculty position that will provide visionary leadership in prediction–based plant breeding. This is a 9-month tenure-accruing position that will be 30% teaching (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, CALS) and 70% research (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station), available in the Horticultural Science Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Florida (UF). Tenure will accrue in the Department of Horticultural Sciences.
Achieving sustainable agriculture for our nation and the world is a grand challenge of our time. Artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics applied to plant breeding has the power to contribute to achieve this goal. Plant breeding is a strength of UF/IFAS waiting to be harnessed. Plant breeders at UF/IFAS, strategically located across the state, improve more than 50 crops for food, feed, fiber, fuel, shelter, landscape beautification, eco-systems services, and a variety of other human activities. The goal of this position is to provide research and teaching leadership in the strategic use of AI and predictive analytics towards plant breeding objectives. The candidate is expected to be highly experienced and develop a strong, extramurally funded program in plant breeding, data science, statistics, genomics, phenomics, and crop modeling. The successful candidate will have a well-developed vision that drives research on how plant biology and AI can work together to achieve new insights that have not previously been possible for specialty crop improvement. Focusing AI on prediction-based plant breeding will propel UF forward to become the global leader in AI-driven crop improvement.