Professor awarded scholarship
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USQ Professor Craig Baillie has been awarded a 2019 Fulbright Scholar Award to identify game-changing technology developments and strengthen collaborative research opportunities between Australia and the U.S.
The prestigious scholarship, awarded through the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, will allow Professor Baillie to spend four months based at College Station, Texas in 2019, working with Texas A&M University and other research institutions.
Professor Baillie, director of USQ’s centre for agricultural angineering, has been focussing his research efforts on automation in agriculture, including an emerging array of agricultural technologies such as sensors, machine learning analytics and robotics that will inform future opportunities to improve on-farm productivity and profitability. His fellowship will build on identifying research gaps needed to facilitate the next generation of technologies, as well as deepening relationships with current research partners including Texas A&M University, Iowa State University and John Deere.
“The aim of this fellowship is to identify game-changing technology developments that will lead to the next revolution in agriculture and identify collaborative research opportunities with US-based research partners that will make this happen,” Prof Baillie said. “The potential impacts of the implementation of digital technologies in agriculture on the Australian economy is estimated to be more than $20 billion, however, the adoption has been underwhelming.”