NREC 20th Anniversary : Dr. Daniel L. Schmoldt, National Program Leader, NIFA/USDA

379 views · Published 8 September 2016 · 41:07 · Indexed 21 October 2026

Channel: CMU Robotics Institute · 2016 · Science & Technology

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Daniel Schmoldt completed his academic training in 1987 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in mathematics,
computer science, and forest science. The latter included completion of both Masters and Ph.D. programs. From
1987 until 2001, he held several research scientist positions with the U.S. Forest Service while conducting research in a
variety of forestry areas: wildfire management, atmospheric deposition, artificial intelligence, decision support systems, ecosystem
management, machine vision systems, and automation in forest products utilization. From 1997-2004, he served
as Joint Editor-in-Chief for the Elsevier journal, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, and remains on their editorial
board. Since 2001, he has filled a newly created position as National Program Leader for Instrumentation and Sensors with
the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and helps to prioritize, develop, focus, and coordinate USDA research, education,
and extension programs covering the development of sensors, instrumentation, and automation technologies related to
precision agriculture/forestry, robotics, processing of agricultural and forest products, detection of contaminants in agricul
tural products, and monitoring and management of air, soil, and water quality. His current $100M+ portfolio of grant
programs include specialty crops, agroclimatology, robotics, engineering, nanotechnology, and cyber-physical systems.
Finally, he currently serves as the USDA representative to several Office of Science and Technology Policy working groups on
engineering and technology.

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