Raj Khosla, PhD
Department Head | Professor
2004 Throckmorton PSC
1712 Claflin St
Manhattan, KS 66506
Ph: 785-532-6101
Prof. Raj Khosla of Kansas State University is a globally recognized authority on Precision Agriculture. He has been engaged in precision agriculture since inception and has made significant contributions in the development and spread of Precision Agriculture worldwide. He is the Founder and Past-President of the International Society of Precision Agriculture. Most recently, he served as the member of National Academy of Science Committee that led the consensus study on Science Breakthrough 2030.
Prof. Khosla’s research specializes in harnessing spatial and temporal heterogeneity in managed agro-ecosystems and translating those into better management decision for producers. His group has extensively used remote sensing and other geo-spatial tools to enhance production, resource use efficiency, profitability, and sustainability of managed agro-ecosystems. Their on-going precision nitrogen management work has demonstrated significant reductions in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions on farm fields. Funded through ARPA-E program his laboratory in collaboration with two other institutions are developing the next generation of soil-moisture and soil-nitrate sensors that are in-expensive, passive (battery-less), small, and bio-degradable. He is currently co-leading a multi-institutional $10M USDA-NIFA-SAS funded project entitled “Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Water, Nutrient, Salinity, and Pest Management in the Western US”. He has co-authored over 100 publications (book chapters, refereed journal articles, extension articles, proceedings, bulletins, reports, popular press articles, digital media, and others). He has been invited globally to over 30 countries.
In 2017, his research was recognized with the “Werner L. Nelson Award for Diagnosis of Yield-Limiting Factors Award” by the American Society of Agronomy. Previously, he has been recognized as the “Precision Ag Educator of the Year 2015” by the US agricultural industry. In 2012, Dr. Khosla was named the Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences and was appointed as the Senior Science Advisor on Food Security to the U.S. Department of State. In 2011, he was inducted by NASA to the US “Presidential Advisory Board on Positioning, Navigation and Timing” to work on the US space based GPS policy. He served on the NASA board for two 2-yr terms (2011-2015).
Prof. Khosla is the Fellow of American Society of Agronomy; Fellow of Soil Science Society of America; Fellow of Soil and Water Conservation Society and Honorary Life Fellow of International Society of Precision Agriculture.