🎤 Workshop Speakers

The BIGSTAR workshop brings together world-leading researchers and practitioners in remote sensing, precision agriculture, and sustainable crop management. Meet our speakers below.

Prof. Yuxin Miao

University of Minnesota, USA

Prof. Yuxin Miao is Director of the Precision Agriculture Center and Professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2005 and worked at China Agricultural University from 2007-2017 before returning to Minnesota. His research focuses on developing integrated precision agricultural management systems combining field measurements, active canopy sensors, UAV and satellite remote sensing, and crop growth modeling for sustainable nutrient management. He founded the Minnesota On-Farm Precision Agriculture Research Network and received the Pierre C. Robert Precision Agriculture Young Scientist Award from ISPA.

Dr. Ittai Herrmann

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Dr. Ittai Herrmann is Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) and head of the Plant Sensing Laboratory at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on identifying relations between remotely sensed spectral, spatial and temporal data and morpho-physiological plant traits. The lab’s work combines remote sensing with precision agriculture and high-throughput plant phenotyping to increase agricultural productivity while enhancing resource use efficiency. His expertise includes hyperspectral imaging, UAV-based remote sensing, and assessment of crop stress responses under dynamic environmental conditions and genetic diversity.

Prof. Heinz Bernhardt

Technical University of Munich, Germany

Prof. Heinz Bernhardt holds the Chair of Agricultural Systems Engineering at the School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich. He studied agricultural science at Justus-Liebig University in Gießen, where he also completed his doctorate and habilitation in agricultural logistics. His research focuses on technology in agricultural science with a system-oriented approach studying the interaction of technology and procedures. His work encompasses sensor-guided precision agriculture, agricultural logistics, robotics, electromobility, milking technology, and agricultural energy management, with emphasis on the practical implementation of digital technologies in farming operations.

Dr. Leonardo M. Bastos

University of Georgia, USA

Dr. Leonardo M. Bastos is Assistant Professor in Integrative Precision Agriculture at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on using proximal and remote sensing, geospatial soils data, and temporal weather information to inform crop management practices from within-field to regional scales, with particular emphasis on nitrogen fertilizer management and crop quality mapping. His work integrates field measurements with various sensing technologies and advanced data analytics to develop innovative solutions for improving agricultural resource management and sustainable crop production.

Prof. Dr. Georg Bareth

University of Cologne, Germany

Prof. Dr. Georg Bareth is Professor of Geoinformatics and Head of the GIS & Remote Sensing Group at the Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Germany. He currently serves as Dean of the Faculty for Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Vice President of the German Society for Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, and Geoinformation (DGPF). He graduated in Physical Geography from Stuttgart University and earned his doctorate and habilitation at the University of Hohenheim. His research focuses on proximal and remote sensing methods for crop monitoring, combining GIS and remote sensing analyses for geographical, archaeological, and agricultural applications, with over 25 years of experience in precision agriculture.

Prof. Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada

CSIC, Spain

Prof. Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada leads the QuantaLab at the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (IAS), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Córdoba, Spain. He is also a Professor at the University of Melbourne. He also worked at the Joint Research Centre, European Commission. His research specializes in UAV hyperspectral and thermal remote sensing for vegetation stress detection, focusing on the simulation and validation of algorithms using physical models of radiative transfer. He is a leading expert in chlorophyll fluorescence quantification, photochemical indices, and predictive stress indicators for early detection of water, nutritional, and disease stress in vegetation using both manned and unmanned platforms.

Prof. Fei Li

Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, China

Prof. Fei Li is Professor at the College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, China. He earned his Ph.D. from China Agricultural University in 2008. He completed postdoctoral research at the Technical University of Munich from 2009-2012. His research focuses on optical sensor-based plant nitrogen nutrition diagnosis in field crop ecosystems, combining remote sensing with precision nitrogen management. He studies high-productivity and environmentally protective nutrient resource management for dryland ecosystems and has extensive experience in precision agriculture, particularly sensor-based crop monitoring and variable rate fertilization technologies.

Dr. Francisco Pinto Espinosa

Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands

Dr. Francisco Pinto Espinosa is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands. He is an ecophysiologist specialized in remote sensing of vegetation, focusing on understanding complex interactions between crops and their environment at different spatio-temporal scales using sensors and remote sensing techniques. His research utilizes proxies such as solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), thermography, and spectroscopy for crop canopy assessments. He has extensive experience in high-throughput phenotyping for crop breeding, combining remote sensing data with machine learning approaches to characterize genotype-by-environment interactions and improve selection of stress-adapted genotypes.

Dr. Frank Liebisch

Agroscope, Switzerland

Dr. Frank Liebisch is Head of the Research Group Water Protection and Substance Flows at Agroscope, Switzerland’s federal agricultural research center. He has been a researcher for several years in the Group of Crop Science at ETH Zürich. His research interests focus on phenotyping plants with remote sensing technology to monitor crops for precision farming and crop breeding, as well as studying plant-environment interactions with special emphasis on water and mineral nutrient acquisition and stress adaptation. He has extensive experience coordinating research facilities and developing innovative remote sensing approaches for agricultural applications, combining hyperspectral imaging with physiological measurements.

Dr. Martin Mittermayer

Technical University of Munich, Germany

Dr. Martin Mittermayer is a PostDoc researcher at the Chair of Organic Agriculture and Agronomy, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich. He earned his doctorate with research on reducing nitrate leaching through digital nitrogen management and sensor-based fertilization. His research focuses on precision agriculture, particularly site-specific nitrogen balancing based on spatially variable soil and plant properties. He combines remote sensing technologies, soil analysis, and crop monitoring to develop sustainable nutrient management strategies. His work emphasizes practical implementation of precision farming technologies for improving agricultural environmental performance.

Dr. Philipp Löw

Thünen Institute of Rural Studies, Germany

Dr. Philipp Löw is a researcher at the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies, Germany. He earned his Ph.D. from University of Göttingen with research focused on regulatory and voluntary measures to improve nitrogen resource efficiency and reduce negative environmental externalities for achieving ambitious environmental, climate, and sustainability goals. His doctoral thesis compared, quantified, and assessed indicators regulating nitrogen utilization embedded in German legislation, particularly through comprehensive analysis of Farm Accountancy Data Network information. He has experience in project management, policy advisory, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and international cooperation on agricultural environmental issues.

Prof. Francesco Morari

University of Padova, Italy

Prof. Francesco Morari is Professor of Agronomy and Soil Physics in the Department of Agronomy, Animals, Food, Natural Resources and Environment (DAFNAE) at the University of Padova, Italy. He earned his B.S. in Agricultural Science in 1991 and Ph.D. in Environmental Agronomy (Soil Physics) in 1996, both from the University of Padova. He also serves as Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia, USA. His research focuses on sustainability of agricultural systems, soil and water quality, soil mapping and precision agriculture, best management practices, and greenhouse gas monitoring and mitigation.

PD Dr. Markus Gandorfer

Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture, Germany

PD Dr. Markus Gandorfer leads the Digital Farming working group at the Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Animal Husbandry, Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL). He studied Horticultural Sciences, earned his doctorate with research on economic-ecological evaluation of Precision Farming, and completed his habilitation in Agricultural Economics. His research focuses on evaluating Digital Farming technologies and studying the acceptance of digital technologies in agriculture and society. He has extensive expertise in the economic assessment of precision agriculture adoption, farmer decision-making processes, and the integration of new technologies into agricultural practice, bridging the gap between technological innovation and practical farm implementation.

🌍 International Collaboration

This workshop represents a unique gathering of experts from:

• North America: University of Minnesota, University of Georgia
• Europe: TU Munich, University of Cologne, Thünen Institute, Bavarian State Research Center, Wageningen University, University of Padova, Agroscope Switzerland, CSIC Spain
• Asia: Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

📚 Workshop Themes

Our speakers will address four key themes:

1. Remote sensing innovations for nitrogen monitoring and crop stress detection
2. UAV, sensor, and AI technologies advancing precision agriculture
3. Data integration and digital farming systems, from modeling to farm management
4. On-farm experimentation and adoption toward sustainable nutrient management

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