Imaging Science Seminar Harnessing Remote Sensing and Imaging Spectroscopy for Scalable Solutions in Agricultural Disease Management

Imaging Science Seminar
Harnessing Remote Sensing and Imaging Spectroscopy for Scalable Solutions in Agricultural Disease Management: A Novel Framework for Risk Prediction

Dr. Katie Gold
Assistant Professor of Grape Pathology
Cornell University

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Dr. Gold will discuss her lab's novel approach to provide crucial insights for managing plant disease outbreaks and understanding environment-host-pathogen interactions at scale.

Abstract:
The growing challenges in agricultural production, including climate change and increasing food demand, necessitate innovative and scalable solutions for detecting and managing pests and diseases. Remote sensing, specifically imaging spectroscopy (IS), offers a unique opportunity to improve food security by providing a scalable detection method for biotic stress in plants. However, the underlying biological mechanisms and evolutionary conservation of these processes remain poorly understood, limiting the widespread adoption of IS in agricultural disease surveillance. This keynote presentation will address the potential of remote sensing, specifically imaging spectroscopy, as a scalable detection method to enhance food security, improve agricultural viability, and parameterize epidemiological models. Dr. Gold's Grape Sensing, Pathology, and Extension Lab (GrapeSPEC) at Cornell AgriTech studies the fundamental and applied science of plant disease sensing using high spectral- and spatial-resolution spectroscopic imagery from a variety of platforms, including autonomous ground robots and high-resolution satellites, to create disease surveillance and management intervention decision support systems. Gold will introduce how her lab uses the disease triangle as a theoretical framework to map and predict biotic stress risk with imaging spectroscopy across scales, enabling them to transform remote sensing data into actionable risk assessments. This novel approach can provide crucial insights for managing outbreaks and understanding environment-host-pathogen interactions at scale. By incorporating sensitive plant traits from high-resolution hyperspectral and thermal remote sensing imagery, representation of the virulent pathogen component of the disease triangle can be significantly improved, enhancing the accuracy and utility of these risk assessments. The integration of remote sensing, robotics, and theoretical frameworks like the disease triangle can transform agricultural disease detection and management, ultimately enhancing food security and sustainability in the face of global challenges.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Katie Gold is an Assistant Professor of Grape Pathology at Cornell University, where her and her lab, the Grape Sensing, Pathology, and Extension Laboratory at Cornell AgriTech (GrapeSPEC), study the fundamental and applied science of plant disease sensing to improve early disease detection and sustainable integrated management. The Gold Lab studies plant-pathogen interactions at scale with a range of technological approaches, but with specialization in multi-scale in situ and imaging spectroscopy. Gold leads the pest and disease risk mitigation arm of NASA Acres and is an internationally recognized expert in early plant disease detection with remote sensing. Gold completed her PhD in Plant Pathology and MS in Applied Statistics concurrently at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2019. In 2019 she was honored by the American Phytopathological Society with the Schroth Face of the Future Award for her pioneering dissertation research on the use of hyperspectral sensing for pre-symptomatic disease and differentiation. Prior to starting her tenure-track position at Cornell, she held a visiting faculty fellowship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Gold’s extension publications (“Grape Disease Control” guide, Appellation Cornell features, and industry publications) are distributed to grape growers worldwide and her talks have been attended both live and revisited over time as recordings by thousands of unique individuals.

Intended Audience:
Undergraduates, graduates, and experts. Those with interest in the topic.

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