Project Manager Qualifications and Organization Description 

This project will be carried out by a multidisciplinary group with a biological engineer, an electrical engineer 
and a computer scientist. 

Dr. Ce Yang, Project Manager 
Assistant Professor, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota 

Degrees: 
Ph.D. Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, 2013 
M.S. Computer Science, University of Florida, 2014 
B.S. Electrical Engineering, China Agricultural University, 2007 

Dr. Martina Cardone 
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota 
Dr. Cardone brings the expertise in wireless networks and Internet of Things. 

Dr. Youbing Wang 
Research Assistant Professor, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota 
Dr. Wang is an expert in computer vision, big data and deep learning. 

Dr. Ce Yang is a MnDrive Robotics, Sensor and Advanced Manufacturing faculty member. Yang’s laboratory 
works on remote sensing and sensor applications in the area of agricultural and biological engineering. 
Environment protection by various advanced sensing technologies has been the focus in Yang’s group for five 
years. One long-term project is efficient fertilizer management using remote sensing to eliminate nitrogen 
runoff to MN groundwater and surface waters. In addition to agricultural operation, solid waste disposal is 
another major nonpoint source pollution that the group is working on in the past year. Yang’s group is in 
connection with the Zero Waste event management team from the reuse center at the University of Minnesota 
and has taken many EREF courses including: General Solid Waste, Waste Diversion, Waste Collection, Waste 
Reduction, and Recycling. All three collaborators have access to the makerspaces and robotics labs in the College 
of Food, Agriculture and Nature Resource and College of Science and Engineering, where the team can work on 
the sample image collection, remodel of the trash/recycle bins with IoT sensors and controllers, and facility 
maintenance. 

Organization Description 

The department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering of UMN tackles core issues in agricultural 
engineering, biological engineering and environmental engineering. The department has very dynamic 
interdisciplinary research activities and many researchers have received grant supports from the LCCMR 
program. The University of Minnesota provides a range of facilities and sufficient laboratory space to perform 
each of the activities described in this proposal. UMN Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will be the entity 
authorized by the Board of Regents to manage the project agreements with LCCMR program.