Honors and Awards

• NAPIA 2019 Student Travel Grant, Montana State University, 2019.
• Phenome 2019 Travel Award, American Society of Plant Biologists, 2019.
• Ann Chittenden Holland Master’s Thesis Award, Graduate School, Washington State University, 2018.
• Arnie and Marta Kegel Endowed Fellowship, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, 2018.
• Boyd-Scott Graduate Research Award of ASABE (Third Place in MS category), American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, 2017.
• B.A. and Jane Ann Stewart Dryland Agriculture Scholarship, Department of Agricultural Sciences, West Texas A&M University, 2012-2013, 2011-2012, and 2010-2011.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Zhang, C., Craine, W., McGee, R. J., Vandemark, G. J., Davis, J. B., Brown, J., Hulbert, S. H., and Sankaran, S. High-throughput phenotyping of plant height in cool-season crops using proximal and remote sensing techniques. Plant Methods. Submitted, Feb. 2020.
• Zhang, C., Quirós Vargas, J. J., Serra, S., Sangjan, W., Musacchi, S., and Sankaran, S. Phenotyping tree architecture using proximal and remote sensing techniques. Biosystems Engineering. Submitted, Nov. 2019.
• Ma, Y., Marzougui, A., Coyne, C. J., Sankaran, S., Main, D., Porter, L. D., Mugabe, D., Smitchger, J. A., Zhang, C., Amin, M. N., Rasheed, N., Ficklin, S., and McGee, R. J. 2020. Dissecting the genetic architecture of Aphanomyces root rot resistance in lentil by QTL mapping and genome-wide association study. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. (Accepted)
• Zhang, C., Craine, W. A., McGee, R. J., Vandemark, G. J., Davis, J. B., Brown, J., Hulbert, S. H., and Sankaran, S. 2020. Image-based phenotyping of flowering intensity in cool-season crops. Sensors, 20(5), 1450.
• Zhang, C., Chen, W., and Sankaran, S. 2019. High-throughput field phenotyping of Ascochyta blight disease severity in chickpea. Crop Protection, 125, 104885.
• Quirós Vargas, J. J., Zhang, C., Smitchger, J. A., McGee, R. J., and Sankaran, S. 2019. Phenotyping of plant biomass and performance traits using remote sensing techniques in pea (Pisum sativum, L.). Sensors, 19(9), 2031.
• Marzougui, A., Ma, Y., Zhang, C., McGee, R. J., Coyne, C. J., Main, D., and Sankaran, S. 2019. Advanced imaging for quantitative evaluation of Aphanomyces root rot resistance in lentil. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10, 383.
• Zhang, C., Zhou. J., Pumphrey, M., Zhang, Q., and Sankaran, S. 2018. Development of automated high-throughput phenotyping system for wheat evaluation in controlled environment. Transactions of the ASABE, 62(1): 61-74.
• Zhang, C., Si, Y., Lamkey, J., Boydston, R. A., Garland-Campbell, K. A., and Sankaran, S. 2018. High-throughput phenotyping of seed/seedling evaluation using digital image analysis. Agronomy, 8(5), 63.
• Zúñiga, C. E., Jarolmasjed, S., Sinha, R., Zhang, C., Kalcsits, L., Dhingra, A., and Sankaran, S. 2017. Spectrometric techniques for elemental profile analysis associated with bitter pit in apples. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 128, 121-129.
• Zhang, C., Gao, H., Zhou, J., Cousins, A., Pumphrey, M. O., and Sankaran, S. 2016. 3D Robotic System Development for High-throughput Crop Phenotyping. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 49(16), 242-247.

Media Releases

• Wheat varieties identification using UAS and satellite imagery. https://news.wsu.edu/2019/05/29/images-space-help-farmers-grow-better-wheat-varieties/.
• Images from space could help farmers grow better wheat varieties. May 2019. http://news.cahnrs.wsu.edu/article/images-from-space-could-help-farmers-grow-better-wheat-varieties/
• Washington State University’s first Ag drone workshop. November 2017. https://www.goodfruit.com/mullinax-are-you-ready-for-liftoff/

Certification

US remote pilot for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (2017 to present)

Skills

Language C (National Computer Rank Examination Level 2), Matlab, LabVIEW, SAS, R, Arduino programming, 3D printing, PLC, SPSS, ArcGIS, QGIS.

Projects

• High-throughput phenotyping of legume (pea and chickpea) breeding lines using proximal and remote sensing (UAV) techniques.
• Application of high-resolution satellite imagery in corn breeding program.
• Plant height measurement in cool-season (pea, chickpea, canola, camelina) crops using proximal (LiDAR) and remote sensing techniques.
• Phenotyping tree architecture using proximal and remote sensing techniques.
• Image-based phenotyping of flowering intensity in cool-season crops.
• Development of automated high-throughput phenotyping system for wheat evaluation in controlled environment.
• High-throughput phenotyping of seed/seedling evaluation using digital image analysis.
• Blueberry damage evaluation using imaging techniques (in collaboration with Dr. Lisa DeVetter’s research group).
• Image-based seed analysis in lentil, camelina, quinoa, and wheat.
• Food quality evaluation using image-processing techniques (for evaluation of color degradation and leakage intensity of various package materials, in collaboration with Dr. Shyam Sablani’s research group).
• Development of robot to automatically catch and deliver balls as a part of a course project.