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Drewry represents Ohio State in COALESCE; Research team receives $7 million NSF grant

May. 14, 2021
Darren Drewry, Assistant Professor, FABE

Darren Drewry, assistant professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, represents Ohio State on the team of multi-institutional researchers recently awarded a grant to pursue their vision for ultra-precision agriculture. The research group calls their team COALESCE, COntext Aware LEarning for Sustainable CybEr-agricultural systems. They were recently selected for a five-year $7 million Cyber-Physical Systems Frontier award funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“It is an exciting opportunity to be part of the COALESCE team which spans a wide range of expertise in agronomy, robotics and machine learning,” said Drewry. “Working with this diverse team over the next several years will allow my group to contribute to fundamental research seeking to optimize the management of the terrestrial and hydrological resources central to sustaining our agricultural systems.”

Drewry will bring expertise to the team in the area of biophysical crop simulation. Using the MLCan biophysical canopy model he previously developed, Drewry will develop “digital twins” of agricultural systems for use in the project. Through the integration of biophysical theory and machine learning, the team will be able to develop simulations of agricultural stress and yield in order to better inform the practices of highly precise technologies. 


by Chip Tuson


Original Release