American Scientist

Daniela Sofia Jones says we need to get smarter about how we use agricultural products for energy without disrupting the planet's growing need for food. Jones is an assistant professor in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at North Carolina State University and holds a joint-faculty appointment with Idaho National Laboratory. Her research focuses on the various ways data scientists are pairing up with farmers to define and implement new strategies to tackle this global challenge. Her research agenda includes developing mathematical models and algorithms to simulate and optimize the biomass supply chain for food and fuel. 

On March 29, 2022, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, hosted a virtual presentation by Jones as part of its Science by the Slice series (video and curated live tweets are below). In starting off her talk, Jones used an example of the sweet potato in the market to give real-world context to how data scientists can help with agricultural decisions. 

One key component of Jones's talk was about how the myriad of factors that go into agricultural decisions must necessarily include the farmers and others who would implement proposed changes to growing, harvesting, pre-processing, storing, and delivering agricultural products. 

"Data-Decisions in Agriculture for Food and Fuel"

Q&A with Daniela Sofia Jones conducted by Brian Malow

Tweets about the talk are compiled below, including live tweets made during the talk by American Scientist's Editor-in-Chief, Fenella Saunders.