I graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. degree in Agronomy and obtained a master’s degree in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Afterwards, I conducted Ph.D. research on the source-sink relationship of wheat at the University of Lleida in Spain and worked at the University of Guelph in Canada as a post-doctoral researcher. Currently, I am continuing my postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My current interests encompass crop physiology, specifically the source-sink relationship, nitrogen use efficiency, farming systems, and more, utilizing various statistical and data tools. I am also fascinated by phenotypic plasticity and plant adaptation to environmental changes. Additionally, I have a strong interest in programming, particularly in R and Python for data science, as well as advanced SQL for big data analysis.
■ Google scholar / Web of Science / ORCiD / ResearchGate
■ Github
■ Youtube Channel
■ Research group
■ Current
• DiTommaso Lab, Cornell University, USA
■ Past
• DKLEE Lab, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
• NORTHERN AND EASTERN ONTARIO AGRONOMY RESEARCH GROUP (NEO-AG), University of Guelph, Canada
• Crop Physiology Group, University of Lleida, Spain
■ Careers
▪ Postdoctoral Associate. Jan 2025 – Current, Cornell University, USA
▪ Postdoctoral Research Associate. June 2023 – Jan 2025, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
▪ Postdoctoral Research Fellow. May 2022 – June 2023, University of Guelph, Canada
▪ Field technical manager. Aug 2013 – Dec 2014, KG Chemical, South Korea
▪ Hybrid seed production specialist. Jan 2009 – June 2013, Farm Hannong, South Korea
▪ Field research technician. Feb 2007 – Oct 2007, Iowa State University, IA, USA
■ Degrees
▪ Ph. D, Crop Science. Feb 2018 – Jan 2022, University of Lleida, Spain (Cum Laude)
▪ MSc., Plant Breeding and Genetics. Feb 2015 – March 2017, Wageningen University, Netherlands (Excellent)
▪ BSc., Agronomy. March 1999 – May 2007
° Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA (3+1 Dual Degree Program)
° Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, South Korea (3+1 Dual Degree Program)
■ Research experiences
• Postdoctoral research. Cornell University. Jan 2025 ~ Current
° Agrivoltaics project – Screening crops to optimize crop yields within Agrivoltaics systems across New York State.
• Postdoctoral research. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA. June. 2023 ~ current
° SCAPES project – Sorghum and soybean yield in response to shading by Agrivoltaics (link)
° ARPA-E project – Greenhouse gases and Soil organic carbon in crop fields
° Hemp research – Physiological approach to understand hemp production.
• Postdoctoral research. University of Guelph, Canada. May. 2022 ~ May. 2023
° 4R management for late nitrogen applications in corn (link)
• Doctoral research. University of Lleida, Spain. Feb. 2018 ~ Dec. 2021
° Physiology of genotypic differences in wheat grain weight among elite cultivars of contrasting grain number under contrasting N conditions or exposed to heat (link)
• MSc research. Wageningen University, Netherlands. Nov. 2016 ~ Mar. 2017
° Composite cross populations (CCPs) of Winter wheat under low-input farming systems in the Netherlands: G x E interaction, Adaptability and Stability of yield over years (link)
• Maize field research assistant. Iowa State University, USA. Feb. 2007 ~ Oct. 2007
■ Papers
Upcoming papers
■ The shape of cereals to come: adapting form and function to abiotic stress and production changes. submitted to Communications Biology.
2026
■ Kang, J., Hooker, D., DeBruin, J., Hensley, R., Lauzon, J., Zwart, P., Kim, J., Byker, H., DeSchiffart, I., Melenhorst, B. and Brinkman, J., 2026. Evaluating the efficacy of late nitrogen application: Physiological and environmental perspectives. Field Crops Research, 341, p.110427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2026.110427
■ Kim, J., Bicego, B., Savin, R. and Slafer, G.A., 2026. Physiological bases of grain weight response to post-anthesis heat waves in two contrasting wheat cultivars. Field Crops Research, 338, p.110310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2025.110310
■ Bicego, B., Kim, J., Savin, R. and Slafer, G.A., 2026. Yield and grain number formation as affected by pre-and post-anthesis heat waves and thinning in two contrasting wheat cultivars. Field Crops Research, 338, p.110309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2025.110309
2025
■ Kim, J., Behnke, G., Villamil, M., Khanna, M., Du, X., Miljkovic, N., Time, A., Bernacchi, C., Branham, B. and Lee, D., 2025. Shading Impacts on Sorghum and Soybean Grain Yields in Agrivoltaics Systems: Source-Sink Strength in Response to Shading. Smart Agricultural Technology, p.101647. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atech.2025.101647
■ Sturchio, M.A., Russell, D.F., Schmidt, J., Marschner, C., DiTomasso, A., Kim, J. and Grodsky, S.M., 2025. Environmental controls of suppressed fall crop productivity in an agrivoltaic solar array. Environmental Research: Food Systems, 2, p.035004. https://doi.org/10.1088/2976-601X/adf075
■ Kang, J., Drury, C.F., Calder, W., Melenhorst, B., Lauzon, J., Kim, J. and Nasielski, J., 2024. A simple and accurate Dosi-Tube method for estimating ammonia loss from in-season nitrogen application in corn fields. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 105, pp.1-5. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2024-0052
2024
■ Miljkovic, N., Du, X., Solecki, A., Garimella, V.S., Jia, M., Peng, B., Mwebaze, P., McCall, J., Majeed, F., Time, A. and Kim, J., 2024. Advancing Agrivoltaics through a Systematic Design Framework: Guidelines for Integration and Informed Decision-Making. https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-4791170/v1
■ Jang, C., Lee, J.W., Namoi, N., Kim, J., Lee, M.-S., Crozier, D., Yang, W., Rooney, W. and Lee, D.K., 2024. Optimizing bioenergy sorghum productivity and nutrient removal in Illinois: Impact of nitrogen fertilization under diverse marginal conditions. Field Crops Research, 315, p.109475.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429024002284
■ Kim, J., Sullivan, P., Caldwell, L., Downey, J., Hooker, D. C., & Nasielski, J. (2024). Kernel number and kernel weight stability can vary across corn hybrids. Agronomy Journal, 1-12.
https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/agj2.21640
■ Kim, J., Savin, R. and Slafer, G.A., 2024. Quantifying pre-and post-anthesis heat waves on grain number and grain weight of contrasting wheat cultivars. Field Crops Research, 307, p.109264.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429024000170
2023
■ Studhalter, M., Janovicek, K., Kim, J., Byker, H., Mountain, N. and Nasielski, J., 2023. Row spacing, seeding depth, seeding rate, and trinexapac‐ethyl effects on oat yield and lodging. Crop Science, 63, pp.2509-2523.
https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/csc2.21021
2022
■ Kim, J., Physiology of genotypic differences in wheat grain weight among elite cultivars of contrasting grain number under contrasting N conditions or exposed to heat (Doctoral dissertation, Universitat de Lleida).
https://www.tdx.cat/bitstream/handle/10803/673878/Tjk1de1.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
2021
■ Kim, J., Slafer, G.A. and Savin, R., 2021. Are portable polyethylene tents reliable for imposing heat treatments in field-grown wheat? Field Crops Research, 271, p.108206.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429021001520
■ Kim, J., Savin, R. and Slafer, G.A., 2021. Weight of individual wheat grains estimated from high-throughput digital images of grain area. European Journal of Agronomy, 124, p.126237.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1161030121000095
2020
■ Sanchez-Bragado, R., Kim, J.W., Rivera-Amado, C., Molero, G., Araus, J.L., Savin, R. and Slafer, G.A., 2020. Are awns truly relevant for wheat yields? A study of performance of awned/awnless isogenic lines and their response to source–sink manipulations. Field Crops Research, 254, p.107827.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429019320970
■ Membership
■ 2022.06 – current, Membership in Crop Science Society of America (CSSA)
■ 2022.05 – current, Membership in The Association of Korean-Canadian Scientists and Engineers (AKCSE), Canada
■ 2018.03 – 2021.12, Membership in Association des Scientifiques Coréens en France (ASCOF), Spain
■ 2016.03 – 2017.04, Membership in Korean Scientists & Engineers Association in the Netherlands (KOSEANL), Netherlands
■ 2013.06 – 2016.05, Germination Technical Committee in ISTA (International Seed Testing Association)
■ R package development
■ fwrmodel(): calculates the slope of yield against the environment index (GitHub – agronomy4future/fwrmodel)
■ probdistz(): calculates the probability density function (PDF) (GitHub – agronomy4future/ probdistz)
■ datacume(): compute cumulative summaries of grouped data (GitHub – agronomy4future/ datacume)
■ agronomymap(): Field Heatmap visualization for agronomic trials (GitHub – agronomy4future/ agronomymap)
■ datacooks(): Cook’s Distance diagnostics and outlier detection (GitHub – agronomy4future/ datacooks)
■ normtools(): Normalization methods for data scaling (GitHub – agronomy4future/ normtools)
■ rnmodel(): Reaction Norm and ANCOVA modeling package (GitHub – agronomy4future/ rnmodel)
■ phenokio(): Grain morphometric analysis from digital images (GitHub – agronomy4future/ phenokio)
■ gammacurve(): Estimate Gamma distribution parameters (GitHub – agronomy4future/ gammacurve)
■ colorcapture(): Segment and measure colored objects in images (GitHub – agronomy4future/ colorcapture)
■ Web app development
■ Agrivoltaics Stat https://agrivoltaics.agronomy4future.com
– Web-based statistics engine specifically for agrivoltaics
■ Literature Mining Engine https://scopusmining.agronomy4future.com
– Paper search tool for Meta-Analysis, utilizing Elsevier Scopus
■ Activities
▪ Reviewer for academic journals
▪ Guest lecture
- AGR3450 / Research Methods in Agricultural Sciences (University of Guelph)
– Goodness of Fit of a linear regression model (Nov 2022) - CROP3300 / Cereal Grain Crops (University of Guelph)
– Physiology of Wheat Yield (March 2023) - CPSC593 / Adv Studies in Crop Sciences (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
– How to quantify field-level agricultural carbon outcomes? (Jan 2024)
▪ Online lecture and interviews
- Analysis of split-(spilt)-plot design in the agronomy research using JMP (a lecture in Korean) (click)
– Discovery Summit Korea 2021 – JMP Korea. - Measuring nitrogen volatilization loss in the field (click)
– RealAgriculture Corn School - Solar Farm 2.0 SCAPES Crops Research (click)
– Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at the University of Illinois
▪ Project
- Yield and economic analysis for alfalfa sulphur experiment in North-West Ontario
– Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Jan 2023)
– Conferences
▪ ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting – Nov 2024. San Antonio, TX, USA. – Oral presentation: Shading Impacts on Sorghum and Soybean Grain Yields Under Agrivoltaic Systems: Source-Sink Strength in Response to Shading (https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2024am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/158780).
▪ ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting – Nov 2022. Baltimore, MD, USA. – Oral presentation: Grain Number and Average Grain Weight Response to Heat Waves and Source-Sink Ratio in Field Grown Contrasting Wheat Genotypes (https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2022am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/144520).
▪ The Fourth Spanish Symposium on Cereal Physiology and Breeding (SEFiMeC) – Dec 2021. Pamplona, Spain. – Oral presentation: Physiological bases of grain number and weight response to heat waves in contrasting wheat cultivars under field conditions.
▪ XXIV Meeting of the Spanish Society of Plant Biology and the XVII Spanish Portuguese Congress on Plant Biology, Vigo, Spain (Online), July. 2021. – Poster presentation: Physiological bases of grain number and weight response to heat waves in contrasting wheat cultivars under field conditions.
▪ The Third Spanish Symposium on Cereal Physiology and Breeding (SEFiMeC) – Nov 2020. Pamplona, Spain (Online). Flash Talk 1: Are polyethylene portable chambers a trustable method to increase temperature in field experiments? Flash Talk 2: Grain number and average grain weight response to heat waves in field grown contrasting wheat genotypes.
▪ 16 edition of the congress of the European society for agronomy (ESA) – Sep 2020. Seville, Spain (Online). – Oral presentation: Plasticity of grain number and average grain weight in response to heat waves and source-sink ratio in field grown wheat.
▪ The Spring conference of Association des Scientifiques Coréens en France (ASCoF) – April 2019. Lyon, France. – Oral presentation: Source-sink balance determining the interrelationship between average grain weight and grain number in elite wheat.
▪ The Second Spanish Symposium on Cereal Physiology and Breeding (SEFiMeC) – March 2019. Córdoba, Spain. – Poster presentation: Source-sink balance determining the interrelationship between average grain weight and grain number in elite wheat.
▪ The First Spanish Symposium on Cereal Physiology and Breeding (SEFiMeC) – April 2018. Zaragoza, Spain. – Poster presentation: Composite Cross Populations (CCPs) of wheat: The intensive use of genetic variation in the future wheat breeding.
▪ 8th Euro-Korean Conference on Science and Technology 2015 – July 2015. Strasbourg, France.
▪ 30th ISTA Seed Congress – June 2013. Antalya, Turkey.
We aim to develop open-source code for agronomy ([email protected])
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Last Updated: 02/18/2025