MUII Data Driven Research Initiatives for 2023 Strategic Plan

Data-Driven Agriculture (DDAg) Initiative

Missions: The MU Informatics Institute (MUII) and the Data Science & Analytics (DSA) Program launched five data-driven research initiatives in the areas of data-driven precision medicine (DDPM), data-driven behavioral and social sciences (DDBSS), data-driven population and rural health (DDPRH), data-driven emerging technologies (DDET), and data-driven Agriculture (DDAg). MUII will commit substantial resources for the next five years to achieve $5M annual expenditure in informatics and data science related research and training programs before 2023. This will be achieved via a comprehensive profile of new extramural research grants (multiple R01’s and a P- or U- center grant by 2023), training projects (multiple T32’s, NLM T15, and NSF NRT), and entrepreneurship (patent applications, licensing, and startups.)

Data Driven Agriculture (DDAg) Initiative

Agriculture is an integral part of life, civilization, and economy, with applications ranging from food to medicine. Current estimates put thrusts like precision agriculture at 4 billion USD (by 2018) with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13%. This initiative seeks to foster innovation in (g1) sensors and platforms, (g2) eXplainable artificial intelligence (XAI) for data-2-information, and (g3) data translation for implementation in agriculture. These goals address the spectrum of sensing to visualization to decisions and actions, with an emphasis on trustworthy and transparent human-in- and human-over-the-loop solutions.

The DDAg Initiative aims to increase MU cross- and inter-disciplinary activities in (g1)-(g3) by funding internal seed projects, connecting faculty, educating students, exploring curriculum options, and resources to increase external visibility and funding.

Areas for Potential Funding Opportunities:

As this initiative focuses on research from sensors to data to agriculture, potential funding opportunities include, but are not limited to: NSF (e.g., PGRP, PBI, S&AS, RI, NRI, CBE, CCSS, and GEO), USDA, DoD (e.g., U.S. Army ERDC, NVESD, Navy, Air Force, NGA, etc.), and the NSF National Research Traineeship (NRT) Program (e.g., harnessing the data revolution, future of work at the human-technology frontier, understanding the rules of life, and NSF 2026). In addition, precision agriculture is a booming industry, which translates to possible commercial partnerships and/or patents.

Planned Activities

1. Funding

a. Collaborative seed projects - 4 or 5 projects at 30-35K anticipated per year

b. Grant writing support

2. Research Team and Resource Building

a. Complement existing campus resources (e.g., MU Interdisciplinary Plant Group (IPG) and the Phenotyping Plant Science Foundry)

b. Ideas Lab for brainstorming and team building

c. Colloquium series (2 external speakers annually)

d. Campus-wide forums and Journal Clubs (monthly meetings)

e. Host an international workshop (after 2020)

f. Industrial Advisory Board (IAB)

3. Education

a. Curriculum development for non-data science/computing disciplines

b. Explore possible joint undergrad program in engineering/plant science

c. Student support for informatics PhD dissertations, MS degree in Data Science and Analytics case studies/capstone projects, and all levels of student training for participating academic units

Expectations:

Measurable outcomes include (list will be refined based on Core Faculty feedback):

· Increase visibility of interdisciplinary research spanning computer science, engineering, and agriculture (and thus MU) through activities like invited speakers, funding, and eventually an international workshop.

· Funding for small internal seed projects will lead to larger numbers of submissions for mid-to-large externally funded projects from DDAg core faculty and collaborators.

· Increase the number of undergraduate and graduate students involved in interdisciplinary activities centered on agriculture and engineering.

· Expand campus infrastructure related to data acquisition and data processing.

All initiative-facilitated grant proposals will be submitted through the MU Informatics Institute with pre-award preparation and post-award management. All colleges/schools and home departments will obtain the same shared credits for research expenditure.

Members:

MU research groups interested in big data and agriculture, collaborative, interdisciplinary research and problem solving.

Contacting Persons:

Initiative co-leaders

Derek T. Anderson, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) AndersonDT@missouri.edu; 573 882 3905

Gui DeSouza, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) DeSouzaG@missouri.edu; 573 882 5579

Felix Fritschi, Plant Sciences fritschif@missouri.edu; 573 882 3023

MUII Supporting staffs

Chi-Ren Shyu, Director of Tracy Pickens, Fiscal and Post-Award

MU Informatics Institute MU Informatics Institute

ShyuC@missouri.edu PickensT@missouri.edu

573-882-9007 573-882-9007