Research Scientist I - Digital Ag

Position Title:

Research Scientist I - Digital Ag

Job Group:

Professional & Scientific

Required Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree

Preferred Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in agronomy, agricultural engineering, plant sciences, or a related field.

Experience in conducting field and laboratory research, including experimental design, data collection, and quality control.  

Experience which demonstrates proficiency with data analysis and statistical software.

Experience with image classification or machine vision datasets used in agricultural or environmental research. 

Job Description:

The Digital Agriculture Innovations Team, within the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University, is accepting applications for a Research Scientist I to contribute to the programs within digital agriculture, precision agriculture, and agronomy research projects. The Iowa State University Digital Ag Innovation Lab (www.isudigitalag.org) consists of professional staff and graduate students who work closely with agricultural industry partners to develop innovative technology solutions for agriculture. The team has a strong innovation record with over 90 patents and licensed technologies.

Digital Ag’s vision to be the premiere thought leader and partner in ag innovation is reinforced by our mission to innovate, educate, and outreach by bridging the gap between ideas and practical application, cultivating a culture of continuous learning, and elevating individuals and organizations to adopt advanced ag tech solutions for a more sustainable and efficient future.  Strengthened by a team of service driven and abundant thinkers, passionate about agriculture and striving for excellence, we are committed to combining technological advancement with practical solutions, emphasizing Digital Ag’s role in driving positive impact in the agricultural industry. 

Example of Duties

• Design and implement field and laboratory research experiments that address defined agronomic or digital agriculture research objectives, ensuring proper experimental design and data integrity.

• Coordinate and oversee data collection and management processes, including field measurements, laboratory analyses, and maintenance of equipment to ensure accurate, high-quality data generation.

• Analyze and interpret research data, perform statistical analyses and prepare data summaries, tables, and visualizations for internal reports and sponsor communications.

• Prepare written and oral reports to communicate research findings, including presentations to project sponsors, collaborators, and research teams.

• Support data classification and image analysis projects, such as labeling and processing images for training machine vision systems.

Digital Ag operates in a highly collaborative team environment.  The successful candidate will manage project scope, schedule and demonstrate strong project and team leadership, quality control skills, and supervise full-time staff and undergraduate students to support project activities.  Additionally, this position will demonstrate the ability to work independently; complete projects within a specified timeline; communicate effectively; provide technical leadership; and ensure a safe working environment. Excellent communication skills, strong organizational abilities, and attention to detail are required. he candidate will also be a motivated self-starter and possess the ability to conduct, document, and communicate research methods and results.

This position provides strong work variety in a welcoming environment.  Candidates that are detail oriented, organized, and value being on a strong team are encouraged to apply. 

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. on an ongoing basis without sponsorship. Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position.

This is a term position with an opportunity for renewal, depending on funding.  

Level Guidelines
• Individual contributor position with developing professional and/or technical skills working under immediate to general supervision
• Grasps professional-level knowledge and concepts of field while working in a progressive learning mode
• Works on problems and issues of somewhat limited scope
• Follows standard practices and procedures in analyzing situations or data for which answers are available or can be obtained
• Responds to inquiries and issues, escalating to manager or higher level workers as appropriate
• May lead projects of limited scope and complexity
• May provide gui