Dr. Paulo Flores
Dr. Paulo Flores is an Assistant Professor in Precision Agriculture at the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABEN) at North Dakota State University (NDSU). He holds a Ph.D. degree in Soil Science from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil, 2008). Since joining the ABEN department in 2019, he has developed three courses in the area of precision agriculture, and co-developed another course on the use the drones in precision ag. Dr. Flores has over 10 years of experience working with GIS software, and since 2015 he has been applying some of that knowledge toward research to unmanned aerial systems (UASs) applications in agriculture.
One of his main research interests is the use of sensors mounted to UASs and other platforms for high throughput phenotyping (HTP), with a special focus on developing solutions (algorithms/scripts) to streamline the data analysis for field research plots. Another research topic of his interest is the integration of UAS imagery and commercial sprayers to implement site-specific weed control approaches, currently focusing on corn. Dr. Flores is also interested in the integration of UAS imagery and soil sensors (portable and networks) data to better understand variability across fields that are captured by UAS-mounted sensors.
Teaching Responsibilities
PAG 215 - The course is designed to introduce students to current technologies and software solutions being used for data collection, storage, and analyzes to support more informed crop management decisions.
PAG 454/654 - Applications of Precision Agriculture - The course is designed to teach students about current technologies that are being used for crop production, and how to use the data collected by them to make more informed crop management decisions.
PAG 455 – Big Data Management in Precision Ag - The course is designed to introduce students to basic concepts regarding big data, how big data relates to precision agriculture, and how big data analysis approaches are using precision agriculture-related data to enhance crop management and production. Currently not being offered.
PAG 475 – Precision Ag Systems – Capstone Course – The primary goal of the course will be to provide mentorship and assistance to precision ag students as they apply their knowledge and skills, acquired throughout the program, on projects involving precision agriculture topics.
In other activities related to teaching, Dr. Flores co-teaches PAG-496 - Ag Tech Expo and PAG496 - Field Experience (internship), advises graduate and undergraduate students, and often serves as a mentor/collaborator in capstone projects in the NDSU Computer Science program.
Publications
You can find a list of my publication on my Google Scholar page on https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tj2ltQoAAAAJ&hl=en.