People

Principal Investigator

Xin (Rex) Sun, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and UAS Faculty Fellow

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

North Dakota State University

Dr. Xin (Rex) Sun currently serves as an Associate Professor of Precision Agriculture and Uncrewed Autonomous Systems (UAS) Faculty Fellow at North Dakota State University. Before joining the NDSU ABEN faculty team, Dr. Sun worked as a research scientist in the Department of Animal Sciences at NDSU from 2015 to 2018. Prior to that, he held a position as a lecturer in the Agricultural Engineering Department at Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU), China, from 2013 to 2015.

Dr. Sun's research primarily focuses on precision agriculture technologies aimed at enhancing livestock, crop, and food production. His areas of expertise include precision livestock and crop production, artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, remote sensing, hyperspectral and multispectral imaging technologies, and food product non-destructive inspection technologies.

Throughout his career, Dr. Sun has successfully led/co-led grants and projects valued at over $20 million and has authored more than 130 publications in various formats. He has established collaborations with numerous academic and industry partners, including Harvard University, Iowa State University, Texas A&M University, Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangsu University, USDA, National Pork Board, Hormel Food, JBS, and Charoen Pokphand (CP) China, among others.

Research Interests:

Precision Agriculture
Artificial Intelligence in Food and Agriculture
Precision Crop/Livestock Production
Food Quality Non-destructive Detection Methods

Postdoctoral Research Associates

Billy G. Ram, Ph.D.

Dr. Billy Ram is serving as a postdoctoral research associate in Dr. Sun's precision agricultural technology lab since June 2024. Billy has a background in agricultural engineering, specilizing in sensor based intelligence. His doctoral research involved developing optimized modelling methods for application of high dimensionality data in weed identification. His research interests are in robotics, sensor intelligence, phenotying, and plant trait estimation for higher profitability of farmers. Billy is a big advocate of open-source science and believes in developing end-products that are resourceful for farmers. Billy likes to camp outdoors and enjoys Fargo winters! You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

Sunil GC, Ph.D.

Sunil GC is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the NDSU Sun Lab. Sunil holds a Ph.D. in Agriculture Engineering from North Dakota State University, specializing in integrating technology with agriculture, focusing on high-throughput phenotyping, robotics, and artificial intelligence for weed species identification. Sunil brings his expertise in the area of software engineering and embedded systems. As a former Software Engineer at Deerwalk Inc., he contributed significantly to "Plan Analytics," employing his expertise in big data technologies like Cascading, Hadoop, and Elasticsearch. During his tenure as an Embedded Software Engineer-Intern at AGCO – Appareo Systems, Sunil developed CAN, J1939 based test scripts for embedded software in vehicle telemetry control units, ensuring compliance with requirements. His professional journey seamlessly combines agricultural research, software development, and embedded systems expertise.

Current MS/Ph.D. Students

Arjun Upadhyay

Arjun is a doctoral graduate researcher in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. He has completed his bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Institute of Engineering (IOE), Pulchowk Campus in Nepal. Following his graduation, he worked as an Assistant Lecturer at Himalaya College of Engineering (HCOE). Presently, his research area is focused on designing a machine vision-based smart sprayer system on precision agriculture robotic platform for site-specific weed management. He is always passionate about robotics, machine vision, artificial intelligence, and sensor technology for performing real-time applications.

Bright Mensah

Bright Mensah is a master's student at North Dakota State University in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. In the fall of 2022, he joined Dr. Xin (Rex) Sun's Precision Agriculture Research group as a graduate research assistant. Bright's research focuses on the integration of hyperspectral imaging with advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques for precise weed identification in field crops. His field of study is motivated by a strong desire to develop sustainable weed management technology, with the goal of making a significant contribution to agricultural practices through the application of cutting-edge research methodology and technology solutions.

Xiaomo Zhang

Xiaomo Zhang is an upcoming doctoral student and will join Dr. Sun’s precision agriculture group as a graduate research assistant in the spring semester of 2024. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Land Resources Management from Shenyang Agricultural University, Liaoning Province, China in 2021, and her master’s degree in Natural Resources Management from North Dakota State University in 2023. Her master’s research topics were developing machine learning and deep learning soil moisture models for precision agricultural applications, taking the Red River Valley of the North as the study area. She is specialized in programming languages such as MATLAB, python and C++. Other kills also include ArcGIS, and SWAT. Learn more about Xiaomo.

Evans Wiafe

Evans Kofi Wiafe, born on April 26, 1996, in Ghana's Ashanti region, grew up in a family of smallholder farmers. This early exposure to farming challenges fueled his interest in precision agriculture, aiming for optimal yields with limited resources. Evans excelled in agricultural engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), completing his undergraduate thesis on maize drying properties and leading the Ghana Agricultural Engineering Students Association (GAESA). After graduating with First Class honors in 2020, he contributed to agricultural innovation as a Teaching and Research Assistant at KNUST, developing a hybrid solar-biomass dryer and leading Engineers without Borders (EWB-KNUST) in impactful community projects. In 2022, he joined the Barry-Callebaut Group, Ghana, as a District Sustainability/Technical Officer, focusing on improving cocoa farming practices. Currently pursuing a PhD in agricultural engineering, Evans specializes in mechanical weed control using ground robots, continuing his commitment to advancing sustainable farming technologies.

Maria Terresa

Maria is an MS student who joined NDSU Sun Lab in the Spring of 2023. She hails from Columbia and has her undergraduate degree in Animal Sciences. Her research puts an emphasis on the food industry and applied technologies for food products analysis using non-invasive chemometrics tools She is currently working on measuring variable-rate nitrogen (VRN) using a combined application of multispectral sensors and GIS in Canola and Wheat crops.

Nijhum Paul

Nijhum is a Ph.D. student in the Genomics, Phenomics and Bioinformatics program at NDSU. Her research experience involves big data analysis and building machine learning-based prediction models. She completed her B.Sc. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Bangladesh. During her Ph.D. she is advised by Dr. Xin (Rex) Sun and her research interest is precision agriculture and machine learning-based model development. She spent 2023 summer as an intern at Merck, where she used pharmaceutical data to develop a toxicity prediction model.

Satyam Kakkar

Satyam is an MS student at Dr. Sun’s lab. He joined the lab in spring 2025 as a graduate research assistant. He completed his graduation with majors in Agricultural Engineering from Punjab Agricultural University, India. He has a rich background in GIS and in NDSU, Satyam’s research focuses on integrating hyperspectral imaging technology with machine learning models. He is always passionate and keen to learn new things and wants to make an impact towards the betterment of farmers with his research.

Niharika Vullaganti

Niharika joined the NDSU Sun Lab as a doctoral graduate research assistant in Spring 2024. She holds an M.Sc. in Soil Science from Punjab Agricultural University and B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture from Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University in India. During her master's research, she used geospatial technologies to estimate crop water requirements of wheat and visualized their spatio-temporal variation in maps created using ArcGIS. She is passionate about using the latest advancements in precision agriculture to enable site-specific crop management. Her doctoral research will focus on soil health assessment, with a particular emphasis on soil nutrition, utilizing cutting-edge precision agriculture technologies such as robotics. Her motive behind research is to increase agricultural productivity, while conserving soil health and environment. LinkedIn

Current Lab Assistants/Staffs

Joanna D. Fajardo

Joanna Daniella Fajardo is an undergraduate student at North Dakota State University pursuing a degree in Precision Agriculture Technology and Management with a minor in Artificial Intelligence. Currently, she assists Dr. Xin (Rex) Sun's group as a part-time student assistant to learn and help in research. Her interest lies in applying machine learning and computer vision to agriculture, aiming to facilitate data-driven management practices that positively impact farmers and the environment. She also advocates the integration of precision agriculture into regenerative farming in hopes of safeguarding our environment for future generations. Beyond her studies, she is passionate about making science-related topics accessible to the public and empowering women in the tech field.

Mian Jalal Ud Din

Mian is currently a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Dakota State University (NDSU). He has been serving as a part-time research assistant at NDSU Sun Lab since April 2023. An Electrical Engineering graduate from the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, Pakistan, he completed his post-graduation at Abasyn University Peshawar, Pakistan, specializing in power and renewable energy systems. In the NDSU Sun Lab, Mian contributes as a proficient engineer, assisting graduate researchers with detailed data and image processing using software like MATLAB and Python. His role involves precision analysis of complex datasets, collaborative algorithm development, and creating clear data visualizations. Mian's keen analytical skills and meticulous attention to detail make him an asset in advancing the NDSU Sun Lab's efforts in agricultural data analysis. Learn more about Mian and his work here.

Kelvin Betitame

Kelvin Betitame is a research specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. He joined the department in the winter of 2019 where he became part of the precision ag. group under the supervision of Dr. Xin (Rex) Sun. His research area is focused on weeds identification using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Kelvin has also successfully conducted research on estimating the effect of dicamba drift using UAV imagery. He is passionate about using remote sensing technology especially drone images to solve prevailing problems that farmers are encountering.

Lab Alumni

Cengiz Koparan, Ph.D.

Dr. Koparan was a postdoc in the NDSU Sun Lab from 2020-2022. Currently, he is serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology at the University of Arkansas. Learn more about him here.

Raju Ahmad, Ph.D.

Dr. Ahmad was a postdoc in the NDSU Sun Lab since 2020-2023. He is currently working as Digital Agronomy and Sustainability Specialist at Black Gold Farm in Grand Forks, ND.

DeMetris Reed, Ph.D.

Dr. Reed was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Animal Sciences advised by Dr. Sun. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Animal/Meat Science at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, TX. Learn more about him here.

Jeng-Hung Liu, Ph.D.

Dr. Liu was a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Dr. Sun from 2013 - 2017.

Austin Eide

Austin was an MS student in NDSU Sun Lab from Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2020. Currently, he is working as Field Application Engineer at Blue River Technology.

Cristiano M.B. Costa

Cristiano was an MS student in NDSU Sun Lab from Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2020. Currently, he is a Precision Agriculture Specialist in Brekke Aviation Inc. in ND.

William "Billy" Ogdahl

William earned his bachelors in Agricultural economics in 2015 and served as an MS student in the Department of Animal Sciences under Dr. Sun's supervision.

Jacob Frandrup

Jacob is originally from Vermillion, Minnesota. He earned his M.S. degree here at NDSU in Animal Sciences with an emphasis on Meat Science under Dr. Sun.

Nitin Rai

Nitin Rai was serving as a Postdoctoral Associate in the NDSU Sun Lab. He earned his doctoral degree in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from North Dakota State University. Nitin is currently working as a postdoctoral associate at University of Florida.

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