Assistant​/Associate Scientist - Mechanical Engineering

Assistant/Associate Scientist - Mechanical Engineering

Job no: 540798
Work type: Non-Tenure-Track Faculty
Location: Hillsborough
Categories: Biology/Life Science, Artificial Intelligence, Agricultural Sciences
Department:  - AG-GCREC - BALM

Classification

Title:

Highest degree possible in field or a Master's degree combined with at least ten years of experience;
Evidence of pertinent experience for the position and qualities for the academic unit.

This is a 9-month position that will be 70% research (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station) and 30% extension (Florida Cooperative Extension Service), available in the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC), Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Florida. This assignment may change in accordance with the needs of the unit. This is a non-tenure track position located at GCREC with the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering as the home department.

The faculty member will seek contract and grant funding actively to support their program. The faculty member will engage in Extension activities in their program area.

This position is part of a cohort of new hires for the GCREC Agricultural AI Institute that will focus on advancing artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics for specialty crop production. The successful candidate is expected to work within a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary environment, and will join engineers, computer scientists, horticultural scientists, and AI researchers to develop innovative technologies that improve the productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness of specialty crop agriculture.

This position advances the Center's research mission by designing, developing, and evaluating innovative mechanization and automation solutions that address critical labor challenges facing the specialty crop industry. As a non-tenure-track Mechanical Engineer, the successful candidate will lead the engineering design, fabrication, and field evaluation of agricultural equipment and robotic systems, including transplanters, crop management tools, mechanical harvesting technologies, harvest aids, and human-machine interactive systems.

The successful candidate is expected to collaborate closely with faculty, students, growers, equipment manufacturers, and agricultural technology companies to accelerate the translation of research into commercially viable products and support the successful commercialization and adoption of innovative agricultural technologies.

The successful candidate will participate actively in undergraduate and graduate education by chairing and serving on graduate committees, supervising thesis, dissertation and undergraduate research, and publishing research results with students. Faculty are encouraged to participate in professional development activities related to teaching and advising and may teach courses and seminars.

The University of Florida's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) is a nationally recognized hub for interdisciplinary research, Extension, and graduate education supporting Florida's specialty crop industries. The Center is in Wimauma, approximately 35 minutes from downtown Tampa. GCREC is home to more than 20 faculty whose expertise spans artificial intelligence, automation, engineering, geomatics, horticulture, plant breeding, plant pathology, entomology, horticulture, national resource management, and precision agriculture.

The center offers exceptional research infrastructure, including modern laboratories and offices, greenhouses, approximately 500 acres of research farm, and housing for up to 34 graduate students.

This position will be housed in the new Agricultural AI Institute, a state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, and precision agriculture for specialty crop production. The Institute is designed to foster innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration, and features newly constructed offices, collaborative research space, advanced engineering and computer science laboratories, fabrication and prototyping shops, and dedicated training facilities.

The Agricultural AI Institute provides an exceptional environment for developing transformative technologies while working alongside leading researchers, students, and industry partners to shape the future of agriculture.

The University of Florida's Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering is founded on developing, teaching, and applying engineering principles to improve and sustain agricultural and biological systems for current and future generations. Our programmatic expertise on these complex systems ranges from nano to global scales, integrating anthropogenic and sociological aspects to natural and managed systems. The UF/IFAS ABE department continually transcends disciplinary boundaries to create synergy among different knowledge areas for designing, quantifying, assessing, and managing engineering solutions for…