Research Associate - Bovi-Analytics Lab

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is a pioneer of purpose‑driven science and Cornell University’s second largest college. We work across disciplines to tackle the challenges of our time through world‑renowned research, education, and outreach. We believe that achieving next‑generation scientific breakthroughs requires an understanding of the world’s complex, interlocking systems. We believe that access to nutritious food and a healthy environment is a fundamental human right.

We believe that ensuring a prosperous global future depends on the ability to support local people and communities everywhere. By working in and across multiple scientific areas, CALS can address challenges and opportunities of the greatest relevance, here in New York, across the nation, and around the world.

The Bovi‑Analytics Lab is at the forefront of digital innovation in the dairy industry, integrating artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and software engineering to enhance dairy cattle management and farm operations. Our mission is to translate cutting‑edge computational research into practical, scalable solutions for modern dairy farms. We develop machine learning models, decision‑support tools, and digital platforms that improve production efficiency, herd health monitoring, labor optimization, and sustainability outcomes.

We are seeking a highly motivated and collaborative Research Associate with expertise in digital agriculture, applied machine learning, and interdisciplinary research. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with Dr. Miel Hostens, Associate Professor of Digital Dairy Management and Data Analytics. This position bridges advanced research and real‑world deployment. The Research Associate will lead and contribute to interdisciplinary research projects, develop externally funded proposals, mentor students and junior researchers, and help operationalize AI‑driven systems for the dairy industry.

• Lead interdisciplinary research collaborations involving animal scientists, veterinarians, computer scientists, engineers, and industry partners.
• Conduct independent and collaborative scientific research in areas of GenAI and privacy‑preserving modeling in dairy science, ensuring methodological rigor, reproducibility, and high‑impact scholarly output.
• Lead the design, architecture, and deployment of advanced AI systems, including machine learning, federated modeling frameworks, multi‑agent systems, and AI pipelines for dairy farming applications.
• Develop, co‑lead, and contribute to competitive grant proposals (federal, state, foundation, and industry sources), including large multi‑investigator submissions, and contribute to sponsored project reporting and compliance requirements.
• Architect and maintain cloud‑based ML environments (e.g., Azure, AWS, Databricks) including governance, role‑based access control (RBAC), MLOps best practices, reproducible workflows, and CI/CD automation.
• Lead dissemination of scholarly outputs, publish in high‑impact peer‑reviewed journals, and present at national and international scientific conferences.
• Mentor graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and other junior researchers in AI model development, reproducible research practices, and scholarly dissemination.
• Support laboratory operations and strategic growth, including project planning, research coordination, hiring and interviewing lab personnel, and maintaining collaborative research infrastructure.
• Contribute to outreach and dissemination efforts translating AI research into stakeholder‑facing solutions for the dairy sector.

• Research & Development - 35%
• Funding Activities - 30%
• Technical Leadership & Consultation - 15%
• Publication & Dissemination - 15%
• Lab Management & Collaboration Coordination - 5%

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Animal Science (with computational emphasis), or a closely related field.
• Experience working in interdisciplinary research environments.
• Demonstrated deep understanding of dairy farm systems and operational management.
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex technical…