Title: Reflectance Spectroscopy for Soil Analysis
Speaker: Professor Kenneth A. Sudduth
Venue: Lecture Room of College of Mechanical & Electronic Engineering Building (N9326)
Time: 16:30-18:30, 24th September, 2015
Introduction of speaker: Kenneth A. Sudduth is a Research Agricultural Engineer with the Agricultural Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS) in Columbia, Missouri. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Biological Engineering at the University of Missouri. Now he is president of International Society of Precision Agriculture, and director of the Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research Unit (CSWQRU) of USDA-ARS.
Sudduth has worked in agricultural engineering research and development for over 30 years, in both the private and public sectors. He is nationally and internationally recognized for his precision agriculture research and leadership, especially in soil property sensing and measurement and interpretation of crop and soil spatial variability. Specifically, he developed improved approaches and novel sensor systems for measuring soil carbon and moisture content based on near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. He was one of the first to apply soil electrical conductivity measurements to estimate soil and crop productivity variations within fields. His team developed the first combine-mounted corn population sensor and also created novel high-speed data collection software that allowed mapping not only population but also the spacing between individual corn plants. Sudduth also led the development of "Yield Editor,” an innovative, user-friendly software product that facilitates the removal of erroneous data from yield maps.
Sudduth is an author or coauthor of over 300 scientific publications, 115 of which are peer-reviewed journal articles. He is principal or co-investigator on grants totaling over $5 million from 1993 to present. He served on over 30 graduate committees, advised/directed research of 8 graduate students, mentored 5 postdocs and 8 visiting scientists/professors from 1993 to present.
Sudduth’s Key Professional Activities:
Fellow, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), Member, American Society of Agricultural Engineers/American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASAE/ASABE) Nominating Committee. Chair, ASABE publications Council.
Chair, ASABE refereed publications committee.
Associate Editor, Power and Machinery Division Editor for Transactions of the ASABE and Applied Engineering in Agriculture.
Member, American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America
Member, Editorial board for the journals Geoderma, Precision Agriculture, Agronomy Journal and Computers and Electronics in Agriculture.

College of Mechanical & Electronic Engineering
22nd September, 2015