Research & Extension Experience for Undergraduates

Modern Tools and Technologies for Food & Agriculture Production

The summer REEU program is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in research, extension and outreach projects that focus on innovative tools and modern technologies for agricultural and food production. Students will also get opportunities for professional skills development in communication, leadership, ethics, team work and organization

Program Overview

Participants perform research, or outreach projects under the mentorship of a professor at UGA
Participate in seminars, career counseling and professional development workshops.
Students are matched with the professors based on research projects and interests.

Program Site and City Information

The program site is the University of Georgia, both in the main campus at Athens, and in the Griffin Campus. Athens is 75 miles northeast of Atlanta airport. Athens is a vibrant college town, known for its music and culture, and its warm summer weather. Griffin is located about 30 miles south of Atlanta airport.

Research Areas

Research Supervisor & Department	Student Background and Degree Major	Research Project Title	Location
Dr. Guoyu Lu Electrical & Computer Engineering	Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering	3D modeling and phenotyping of plants based on mobile phone images.	Athens Campus
Dr. Guoyu Lu Electrical & Computer Engineering	Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering	UAV-based crop field modeling and yield prediction.	Athens Campus
Dr. Kyle Johnsen Computer Engineering	Computer Engineering, Computer Science	Augmented reality visualization of point cloud datasets.	Athens Campus
Dr. Jin Ye Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering	Renewable energy systems for controlled environment agriculture.	Athens Campus
Dr. WenZhan Song Computer Engineering	Computer Engineering, Computer Science	Build a sensor web for monitoring poultry house.	Athens Campus
Dr. Leonardo Bastos Crop & Soil Science	Agricultural Engineering, Agronomy, Computer Science, Data Science	Georgia cotton variety recommender: a producer-oriented dashboard online tool.	Athens Campus
Dr. Leonardo Bastos Crop & Soil Science	Agricultural Engineering, Agronomy, Computer Science, Data Science	State-wide weather data interpolation for digital agriculture applications.	Athens Campus
Dr. Ramaraja Ramasamy Chemical & Biological Engineering	Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biological Engineering	Rapid detection technologies (biosensors) for food pathogen detection.	Athens Campus
Dr. Kenan Song Agricultural & Mechanical Engineering	Manufacturing or Agricultural Monitoring Systems	Developing 3D printed multi-model actuators for seeds distribution.	Athens Campus
Dr. Anderson Alves Animal and Dairy Sciences	Animal Science, Data Science, Digital Tools, Programming	Using Data Science to Investigate Calf Vocalizations as a Welfare Indicator	Athens Campus
Dr. Anderson Alves Animal and Dairy Sciences	Animal Science, Data Science, Digital Tools, Programming	Computer Vision Systems for Automated Heat Stress Assessment in Dairy Cows	Athens Campus
Dr. Chris Kucha Food Science and Technology	Computer Science, Food Science, Chemical Engineering	Spectral Imaging Technology & Machine Learning for Food Quality Detection	Athens Campus
Dr. XQ Wang Mechanical Engineering	Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Agricultural Engineering, Food Science	Computational Mechanics of Blueberry for Better Prediction in Bruise	Athens Campus
Dr. Zhihang Song Horticulture	Agricultural Engineering, Computer Science, Horticulture	Designing an Automated Peanut Maturity Evaluation System	Athens Campus
Dr. Zhihang Song Horticulture	Agricultural Engineering, Computer Science, Horticulture	Software Development for the Analysis of Fruit Images with Machine Learning	Athens Campus
Dr. Francisco Diez-Gonzalez Food Science and Technology	Microbiology, Biochemistry, Food Science	Development of anti-microbial treatments to inhibit mold growth in food.	Griffin Campus
Dr. Malak Esseili Food Science and Technology	Food Science, Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology	Identification of natural inhibitors for foodborne viruses.	Griffin Campus
Dr. Malak Esseili Food Science and Technology	Food Science, Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology	Development of low-cost filtration systems for waterborne viruses.	Griffin Campus
Dr. Govindaraj Dev Kumar Food Science and Technology	Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Plant Science, Food Science	Survey of peach packing houses for microbial contamination.	Griffin Campus
Dr. Ramana Pidaparti Mechanical Engineering	Food Science, Microbiology, Design and Instrumentation, AI/ML	Food Pathogen Detection and Characterization via Optical Sensing and AI	Athens Campus
Dr. Lingling Liu Engineering	Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Science, Engineering, Material Science	Transformation of agricultural byproducts into value-added nanomaterials	Athens Campus
Dr. Lingling Liu Engineering	Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Science, Microbiology, Engineering, Material Science	Development of control release antimicrobials to enhance food safety	Athens Campus

Key Dates

Full Application Due: March 31, 2025

Notification Date: April 15, 2025

Program Dates: TBA (June 1 – July 31)

Financial Support

Stipend: $4000 total for the program period
Housing: $1000 total housing allowance or free on-campus housing (for external participants)
Meals: $750 total for the program period
Travel: $750 total (for external participants only)

Eligibility

Sophomore or Junior in 4-year STEM degree
Cumulative GPA > 3.0
U.S. Citizen or U.S. Permanent Resident

Application

Full application (Due March 31, 2025)

The FULL APPLICATION can be found here. (NOTE: Please use Google Chrome for the application.) Full applications are due by March 31, 2025 and must include the following: