Meet ApplyKite Twin, the application assistant that learns with you
Meet your Twin, it learns with you
Your Twin learns with you
Launch week codes:30% off annual Pro20% off monthly Pro
Ends in00h00m00s
Ends in00h00m00s
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Just Landed
2 days ago
USDA-ARS Postdoctoral Fellowship in Optical Sensing and AI for Food Safety U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in United States
Degree Level
Postdoc
Field of study
Computer Science
Funding
Stipend of $80,000.00–$110,000.00 per year; appointment initially for one year and may be renewed contingent on recommendation and availability of funds.
Deadline
Jan 29, 2027
Country
United States
University
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Apply for this position
Keywords
Suggested positions
About this position
This postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) supports research in the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory. The position may be based at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland or the Eastern Regional Research Center in Pennsylvania.
The project develops optical sensing and artificial intelligence methods for food safety inspection. The fellow will work on integrating imaging and spectroscopy with machine learning and deep learning to relate optical measurements to food safety attributes. Research applications include rapid detection of foodborne bacteria such as E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella, as well as identification of mycotoxin contamination in food and agricultural products such as aflatoxin in corn.
Under USDA-ARS scientist guidance, the postdoctoral researcher may contribute to experimental design, data collection, and data analysis using reflectance, fluorescence, Raman, color, transmission, hyperspectral, and multispectral techniques. The work also includes development and improvement of sensing systems and control software, image and spectral processing, multimodal data fusion, and AI model development for detection, classification, and prediction.
The role offers interdisciplinary collaboration with researchers in engineering, microbiology, and chemistry, and includes opportunities to prepare scientific manuscripts and conference presentations. The mentor listed for this fellowship is Jianwei Qin at USDA-ARS.
Funding details
Stipend of $80,000.00–$110,000.00 per year; appointment initially for one year and may be renewed contingent on recommendation and availability of funds.
What's required
Applicants should have received or be currently pursuing a doctoral degree in agricultural/biosystems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical/computer engineering, computer science, food science, or a related field. Preferred skills include experience with imaging and spectroscopy (reflectance, fluorescence, Raman, color, transmission, hyperspectral, multispectral), optical sensing instrumentation, laboratory automation, robotics, and LabVIEW programming; experience applying machine learning, deep learning, and chemometrics to image and spectral data including preprocessing, feature extraction, data fusion, and model evaluation; proficiency in Python and MATLAB; familiarity with AI frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow and models such as YOLO and ViT; experience setting up computational environments and training/running AI models on GPU servers; familiarity with food safety research, especially identification of foodborne bacteria and detection/analysis of mycotoxins; and strong experimental design, data analysis, scientific writing, oral communication, and collaborative research skills.
How to apply
Scroll to the bottom of the opportunity and click APPLY. Submit an application, transcript(s), a current resume/CV, and two educational or professional recommendations. All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.
Make your next move.
Prepare your application
Review drafts and confirm requirements with the university.
Make your next move.
Prepare your application
Review drafts and confirm requirements with the university.