Keynote Speakers
Nate Coles
Dr. Nate Coles is currently the maize population development lead at Vylor. In his previous role as Corteva’s Precision Phenotyping Lead, he and his team used drones, robots, satellites, and proximal sensors to support crop breeding. His work has advanced the scale, precision, and automation of phenotyping across global breeding programs. He received the 2025 North American Plant Phenotyping Network Industry Award.
Shirin Ghatrehsamani
Dr. Shirin Ghatrehsamani is faculty in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at Penn State University, working as an assistant professor in Mechatronics and Intelligent Sensing and Controls in Precision Agriculture. Her area of specialization is precision technology, Mechanization, Automation and Robotics in Agriculture, Computational Modeling, and Data-Driven Decision Support tools with a particular interest in developing, implementing, and evaluating agricultural machines and control systems for high-value crops. Smart Agricultural Machines aim to solve the problem of food/labor shortage problem and protect the environment using new technologies.
Pat Morgan
Dr. Pat Morgan works at the intersection of plant physiology and technology at Bayer Crop Science, advancing phenotyping innovations to support corn, soybean, and cotton product development. His experience spans field trials, sensor development, and photosynthesis research, including leading validation of the LI-6800 photosynthesis system at LI-COR. He is also a committed mentor and aspiring ally and received the 2026 North American Plant Phenotyping Network Industry Award.
Chris Reberg-Horton
Dr. Chris Reberg-Horton is a Professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at North Carolina State University and Platform Director for Resilient Agricultural Systems at the Plant Sciences Initiative, where his research focuses on sustainable cropping systems, cover crops, and organic agriculture. His work combines field research with advances in phenotyping and artificial intelligence to improve crop management. He co-led the development of the Ag Image Repository, a shared resource of agricultural imagery and associated data for developing AI tools for agriculture.
Sindhuja Sankaran
Dr. Sindhuja Sankaran is a Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at Washington State University, where her research is in nascent and evolving field of phenomics. This involves the design, development, integration, testing and deployment of a range of cutting-edge sensor technologies to advance crop phenotyping. The sensor technologies used span both proximal (internet of things/IoT-based sensor systems) and remote sensing (unmanned aerial vehicle and satellite) approaches and the emphasis in on automated, non-invasive, rapid and continuous monitoring of plant responses to the environment.
James Schnable
Dr. James Schnable is a Professor of Agronomy and Horticulture and the Nebraska Corn Checkoff Presidential Chair at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. His research integrates genomics, high-throughput phenotyping, and machine learning to understand genetic variation in maize and sorghum and advance crop improvement. His work connects plant biology with engineering, computer science, and statistics to link genes with crop traits and environmental responses.
Mohsen Yoosefzadeh-Najafabadi
Dr. Mohsen Yoosefzadeh-Najafabadi is an Assistant Professor of Dry Bean Breeding and Computational Biology at the University of Guelph and winner of the 2026 NAPPN Early Career Scientist Award. His research combines quantitative genetics, artificial intelligence, multi-omics, and digital phenotyping to understand the biological foundations of crop yield, quality, and resilience. He applies these approaches to accelerate the development of improved dry bean cultivars for Ontario and beyond.
Agenda
| Time | Session | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 — Pre-Conference WorkshopsMonday, February 15, 2027 | ||
| 8:30 AM | Coffee Service | Plant Science Building |
| 9:00 AM | Concurrent Workshops — Morning Block | TBD |
| 12:00 PM | Lunch (on your own) | TBD |
| 1:00 PM | Concurrent Workshops — Afternoon Block | TBD |
| 5:00 PM | Networking Evening (on your own) | TBD |
| Day 1 — Conference Day 1Tuesday, February 16, 2027 | ||
| 8:00 AM | Registration Open | TBD |
| 8:30 AM | Coffee Service / Exhibits Open | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 9:00 AM | Welcome & Opening Remarks | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 9:15 AM | Phenotyping Tools and Applications | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 10:30 AM | Break / Exhibitors | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 11:00 AM | Lightning Talks A | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 12:00 PM | Sponsor Talk (before meal) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 12:10 PM | Lunch / Posters / Exhibitors | TBD |
| 1:30 PM | Field-Scale Phenotyping | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 2:45 PM | Poster Session 1 (odd-numbered) | IEI Commons |
| 3:45 PM | Phenotyping for Sustainability | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 5:00 PM | Sponsor Talk (before meal) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 5:10 PM | Break / Exhibitors | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 6:15 PM | Conference Banquet | Duke Energy Hall |
| Day 2 — Conference Day 2Wednesday, February 17, 2027 | ||
| 8:30 AM | Coffee Service / Exhibits Open | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 9:00 AM | Root Phenotyping (topic may change) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 10:15 AM | Break / Exhibitors | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 11:00 AM | Lightning Talks B | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 12:00 PM | Sponsor Talk (before meal) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 12:10 PM | Lunch / Mentoring Program / Posters / Exhibitors | Duke Energy Hall |
| 1:30 PM | AI-Enabled Phenotyping | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 2:45 PM | Poster Session 2 (even-numbered) | IEI Commons |
| 3:45 PM | Phenotyping Plant–Environment Interactions | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 5:00 PM | Sponsor Talk (before meal) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 5:10 PM | Break / Exhibitors | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 6:15 PM | Conference Banquet | Duke Energy Hall |
| Day 3 — Conference Day 3 (Final Day)Thursday, February 18, 2027 | ||
| 8:00 AM | Coffee Service / Exhibits Open | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 8:30 AM | NAPPN General Assembly | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 9:15 AM | NAPPN Awards Ceremony | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 9:45 AM | Award Winner Talks (Graduate Student, Resourceful, EID) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 10:30 AM | Break / Exhibitors | IEI Commons (exhibits) |
| 11:00 AM | Genomes to Phenomes | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 12:15 PM | Sponsor Talk (before meal) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 12:25 PM | Lunch / Posters / Exhibitors | TBD |
| 1:45 PM | Career Talk/Panel: "How to Get a Job" (topic TBD) | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
| 2:45 PM | Closing Remarks | Duke Energy Hall (Main Stage) |
Note: this is a draft agenda and is subject to change