Many of our faculty offer opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student research. Funding for these projects varies.

Student Scientist Worker - Mizuta Lab

We are seeking motivated undergraduate or graduate students with strong geospatial analytical skills to join a summer research project examining why some farmers underperform in “good” counties under USDA’s Agriculture Risk Coverage–County (ARC‑CO) program. Using remote‑sensing tools and publicly available databases, we aim to map areas where farmers may be structurally disadvantaged under county‑level payment rules.

Your role will involve:

• Extracting and processing geospatial data from CDL, Sentinel‑2 L2A, NASS QuickStats, NLCD, and Kentucky GIS portals
• Computing vegetation indices (NDVI/NDRE) and building spatial composites
• Identifying and mapping low‑vigor zones and persistent hot/cold spots
• Working with county‑level yield benchmarks and policy datasets
• Assisting with spatial statistics or clustering analyses (e.g., fuzzy k‑means)

Ideal candidates will have experience with:

• ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, or Google Earth Engine
• Python (rasterio, geopandas, numpy), R, or similar
• Remote‑sensing or spatial modeling
• (Bonus) Statistical modeling or machine learning

Position details:

• Start date: Any time (Spring or Summer)
• Hours: Flexible; part‑time or up to 40 hrs/week in summer
• Compensation: Hourly pay (based on experience) or research credits applicable toward degree completion
• Work environment: Hybrid; some on‑campus meetings with remote work supported

Part-Time Student Project Assistant - Mizuta Lab

A faculty member in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences is seeking to hire an hourly assistant to provide support for assistance with data collection from field and laboratory maintenance. It is expected that this position will be at least 5/hours week. There will be some on-site data collection activities in Kentucky that will require a physical presence and occur at specific times. 

The projects include but not limited to

1. Drone-based application for seeding cover crops
2. Machine Learning Based Spectroscopy Prediction for Soil Carbon
3. How long do no-tillage systems benefit Kentucky corn growers in sequestering carbon in soil
4. Geospatial modeling for assessing the impact of land use cover changes on soil health

To apply, please complete this application and submit a resume/CV and a cover letter detailing how you meet the preferred skills/knowledge/abilities outlined. Please contact nader.ekramirad@uky.edu with any questions.