IGCAST Assistant Professor of Plant Phenomics & Image Analysis Caiwang Zheng
Caiwang Zheng, an expert in remote sensing, high-throughput plant phenotyping and artificial intelligence, has been named an assistant professor of plant phenomics and image analysis in Texas Tech’s Department of Plant & Soil Science, according to officials with the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources. He will begin his new role on Sept. 1.
'Texas Tech has created an exciting environment for advancing plant phenotyping, particularly with the new LemnaTec system and the research strengths within IGCAST.'
Zheng will be based in the department’s Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance, known as IGCAST, where he will develop a research program using advanced imaging, remote sensing and artificial intelligence to better understand how crops respond to environmental stresses, particularly drought and heat.
In this role, Zheng will help lead research using the department’s newly installed LemnaTec PhenoAIxpert HT high-throughput plant phenotyping system. The customized system, housed in IGCAST’s Phytotron, combines automated plant handling, watering, weighing and imaging with RGB, multispectral, hyperspectral, thermal and fluorescence sensing. The system was installed in 2025 to accelerate research on plant growth, development and traits associated with environmental stress.
“Texas Tech has created an exciting environment for advancing plant phenotyping, particularly with the new LemnaTec system and the research strengths within IGCAST,” Zheng said. “I look forward to combining high-throughput imaging with remote sensing and artificial intelligence to better understand how crops respond to drought and heat and to develop tools that can support crop improvement and more resilient agricultural production.”
Zheng’s research will begin with controlled-environment phenotyping, using the LemnaTec system to identify plant traits through high-throughput phenotyping and link these traits with genetic and genomic information to support crop breeding. These findings can then be extended to the field scale using unmanned aerial vehicles, while satellite remote sensing can provide broader spatial context by integrating ground-based observations with crop type, crop performance and yield data, as well as soil and climate information, to better understand water-use efficiency and water-yield trade-offs.
Zheng joins Davis College from North Carolina State University’s Translational Plant Phenomics Laboratory, where he conducted high-throughput phenotyping research to support the breeding and production of horticultural crops. His work incorporated UAV multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, artificial intelligence and data science, with applications in sweet potatoes, small fruits, turfgrass, tobacco and ornamental trees.
Earlier in his career, Zheng was a postdoctoral associate in the Silviculture Lab within the University of Florida’s School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatics Sciences. There, he applied artificial intelligence and NEON airborne remote sensing to study forest tree mortality and disease across large areas.
Together, these experiences have given Zheng expertise spanning high-throughput plant phenotyping, remote sensing and artificial intelligence. At Texas Tech, he will build on this background to develop new approaches for linking plant traits, genetics and environmental conditions across controlled and field environments.
Zheng earned a bachelor’s degree in Remote Sensing Science and Technology from Southwest Jiaotong University and a master’s degree in Global Environmental Change from Beijing Normal University. He earned his doctorate in Geomatics from the University of Florida’s School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatics Sciences.
His arrival comes as IGCAST continues to expand its research on how plants respond to environmental challenges. The institute is led by Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella, a President’s Distinguished Professor of Plant Genomics in the Department of Plant & Soil Science, whose research focuses on how plants respond to extreme heat, cold, drought and saline water.
“IGCAST is a genomics powerhouse at Texas Tech,” said Krishna Jagadish, Thornton Distinguished Chair of the Department of Plant & Soil Science. “The institute is producing cutting-edge, innovative, science-based outcomes to address some of the most persistent agricultural challenges associated with environmental stress.”
Since its founding, IGCAST has attracted more than $10 million in research support from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and commodity groups representing crops such as cotton, sorghum and soybeans. The institute now includes eight research teams, more than 40 graduate students and a growing group of postdoctoral scholars.
Zheng’s expertise in remote sensing, high-throughput phenotyping and artificial intelligence adds a complementary dimension to IGCAST’s research, connecting advanced measurements of plant traits and performance with genetic, environmental and field-scale information. His work will further strengthen the institute’s efforts to develop innovative approaches for improving crop resilience and productivity under environmental stress.
CONTACT: Sandeep Kumar, Chair and Professor, Department of Plant & Soil Science, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-4208 or Sandeep.kumar@ttu.edu
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