Abhilash Chandel

Education

Ph.D., Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Washington State University, 2021

M. Tech, Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India, 2015

B. Tech, Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India, 2014 

Experience

Dec 2021-present: Assistant Professor of Precision Agriculture Technologies and Data Management, Biological Systems Engineering (50% research, 50% extension), Virginia Tech.

May 2021–Dec 2021: Post-Doctoral research associate, Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems, Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Prosser.

Aug 2017–April 2021: Graduate Research Assistant, Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems, Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Prosser.

May 2015–Feb 2017: Junior Project Officer, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India

• Biotic and abiotic crop stress management
• Remote sensing of crop and soils: ground, aerial, and satellite-based
• Internet-of-things enabled cloud and edge computing systems
• Machine vision and 3D point cloud data analytics
• Variable and alternate spray technologies: ground and aerial
• Agricultural machinery systems: autonomous and semi-autonomous

2021 - Finalist, WSU plant science and Corteva symposium

2021 - Graduate Student Leadership Award, CAHNRS, WSU

2021 - ASABE Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference Sponsorship

2020 - Walter and Vinnie Hinz Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Biological Systems Engineering, WSU

2020 - Winner: Digital Ag-Athon, jointly organized by Microsoft and WSU

2020 - Biological Systems Engineering Department Virtual Conference Award

2019 - Water Smart Innovation Conference and Exposition Graduate Student Scholarship

2019 - Alaska Airlines Travel Award

2019 - Biological Systems Engineering Department Travel Award

2010 - Merit-cum-Means (MCM) undergraduate scholarship

The overall goal of my research program is to develop scientifically sound engineering solutions for precision crop management against the evident climate change. The central focus is to realize “farms of the future” with advanced remote sensing of crop and its environment, internet-of-things enabled edge and cloud computing tools to implement management decisions in real/near real time for a range of field and specialty crops.

My extension program focuses on dissemination of knowledge and grower-friendly smart farming tools for production agriculutre. The aim is to develop smart farm test beds at grower fields and also engage agricultural sensor and data management companies to present real crop production scenarios to the grower. My program also aims to assist growers in rapid selection of tolerant crop cultivars and pertinent management practices through user-friendly precision ag technologies.

My publications can be found on Google Scholar