Graduate Research Assistantship in Agricultural & Biological Engineering

The Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Mississippi State University is seeking applications for a Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) position (either a PhD or MS Level) under the supervision of Dr Nuwan Wijewardane. The candidate should be interested in working on the field of precision agriculture. Potential research focus includes but not limited to soil spectroscopy, novel sensor development, machine learning and deep learning, GIS, variable rate technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), and plant and root phenotyping. The successful candidate should be self-motivated, creative, and has a desire to collaborate under a multidisciplinary environment. He or she will be expected to publish in peer-reviewed journals and conference publications. The GRA will cover stipends, tuition waiver and insurance, and the anticipated start date is Fall 2021/Spring 2022.

Minimum qualifications
• Bachelor's or master’s degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Biosystem Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or any other related field with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• English writing and communication skills
• Non-English credentials must obtain a TOEFL score of 79 iBT or IELTS score of 6.5 or higher (GRE may be waived)

Preferred qualifications
• Knowledge and experience on spectroscopy
• Programming skills (e.g., Python, R, Matlab)
• Proficiency in machine learning
• Record of previous scientific communications (journal articles or/and conference publications)

Application procedure
Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Dr Nuwan Wijewardane (nuwanw@abe.msstate.edu) directly to setup interviews. The full application for the department will require a cover letter describing the applicant’s research interest, a CV, transcripts, test score(s), and a list of three references (including names, email, address and telephone number). Review of applications will begin immediately until the positioned is filled.
Please visit the website: grad.msstate.edu/students/admissions for application details. The application deadline for 2021 fall enrollment is May 1 (international) or August 1 (domestic).

Contact
Nuwan K Wijewardane, PhD, Assistant Professor
240, Agricultural & Biological Engineering Building, Mississippi State University
nuwanw@abe.msstate.edu