Qin Zhang 
Professor – Biological Systems Engineering
Director – Center for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems
Telephone: (509) 786-9360
Email: qinzhang@wsu.edu
Dr. Qin Zhang has been director of CPAAS since 2010 and has interests in the areas of agricultural automation, agricultural robotics, and precision agriculture. Before coming to Washington State University, he was a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) working on developing agricultural mechanization and automation solutions. He has authored 5 books, written 9 separate book chapters, edited three conference proceedings, published over 150 peer reviewed journal articles, presented about 300 papers at national and international professional conferences, and been awarded 11 U.S. patents. He is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief for Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, the Editor for Springer Book Series on Agricultural Automation and Control, the Chair for Section III (Plant Production) of CIGR (International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering), and Trustee for the Foundation Board of ASABE (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers).Dr. Zhang has been invited to speak at international conferences over 20 times, including giving a talk on “smart agriculture” at the very prestigious Asian Leadership Conference in 2017 where world-renowned political leaders, global corporate CEOs and academic leaders came together in Seoul, Korea to discuss and provide possible solutions for the pressing issues that Asia is facing today. He has also been invited to give numerous seminars and short courses at more than 30 universities and research institutes and 11 agricultural equipment manufacturing companies in North America, Europe, and Asia, and has been serving as a guest or adjunct professor or external advisory board member for 9 universities in different countries.
Born in China, Dr. Zhang received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Zhejiang Agricultural University in China, his M.S. from the University of Idaho and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), U.S.A., both in agricultural engineering. Dr. Zhang is an ASABE Fellow, a Full Member of the Club of Bologna (a World Task-force for Strategies for the Development of Agricultural Mechanization), and a John Deere Gold Metal awardee.