As technology becomes more integral to agriculture, the demand for professionals skilled in both trades continues to rise at a fast clip.
Michigan State University (MSU)’s IMPACTS — Integrated Training Model in Plant and Computational Sciences — program brings together graduate students studying plant sciences and computer sciences to brainstorm global agricultural solutions.
Shinhan Shiu, director of IMPACTS and professor in the MSU departments of Plant Biology and Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering, said the cross-training is critical to address future agricultural needs.
“The goal of the program is to get the plant scientists to have a stronger computational skill set, and at the same time, get the computational scientists to understand what the grand challenge problems are we’re facing in biology so we can join forces in solving these problems”.