LAVERNE AMBRISTER
JAHIEM WILSON
Classification: Junior Major: Exercise Science Minor: Psychology Mentoring Faculty: Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarlay
Classification: Senior Major: Computer Science Mentoring Faculty : Dr. Rajveer Dhillon
Research Focus:
Project Focus:
The research focused on Varroa mites, a parasitic pest that poses one of the greatest threats to honeybee populations. These mites weaken bees physically and disrupt their behavior and flight patterns, undermining their critical role in pollination. Honeybees are integral to the pollination of approximately 35% of the world’s food crops, making their decline a pressing agricultural issue. .
My role was to manage our code for the robotic mower, which was modified to have a moisture probe connected to it to collect soil moisture data for the project, as well as some fieldwork. This involved correcting issues with the mower's code, and then I was tasked with combining the mower's code with the irrigation code, which were separate, to ensure they worked coherently together.
Lessons Learned:
Lessons Learned:
This internship greatly expanded my knowledge and deep understanding of applications in agriculture. Through hands- on experience with data preprocessing, AI model training, and object detection algorithms, I strengthened my technical skills while opening new doors for career opportunities in precision agriculture and AI-based research.
One of the most profound changes during this experience was in how I viewed agriculture. Previously, I saw it as a straightforward process of cultivating and harvesting crops. However, my research revealed how deeply food production relies on pollinators like honeybees.
1890 LAND-GRANT | 22
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