Zhongjie Ji
Heuermann Research Fellow
Zhongjie Ji is a Heuermann Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from Shandong Agricultural University, a master’s degree in Agronomy from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology from Michigan State University. He also received a certificate in Computational Plant Science from Michigan State University. At the Schnable Lab, he is involved in multiple high-throughput phenotyping projects spanning from field-based systems to climate-controlled facilities. His research is dedicated to integrating high-throughput phenotyping and quantitative genetics using deep learning to better understand the genetic basis of complex traits in crops.
In the News
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Largest greenhouse imaging study approved
We are officially approved for our largest greenhouse imaging study ever! Zhongjie Ji leads the effort to collect RGB and hyperspectral images tracking the development of 600 resequenced sorghum lines from seedlings to seed production. Thank you to UNL ARD for your support of this project! -
Students fly the lab's first UAV timepoint
Our lab has worked with UAV data for almost a decade—building code, training and evaluating models, answering questions, and publishing papers—but we depended on collaborators and contractors to fly our fields. Until now. We collected our first timepoint—of many—for 4,500 research plots outside Lincoln, Nebraska. Our students flew. Thank you to Biquan Zhao (our teacher), Zhongjie Ji (our UAV data expert), and Jinliang Yang (who trusted us with his now-irreplaceable UAV), and congratulations to the lab’s four newly FAA-licensed UAV pilots: Karla Cuéllar, Harshita Mangal, Anuradha Choudhary, and Ryleigh Kirby. Special thanks also to Pascal Izere for outstanding collaboration over the years. -
Schnable Lab at Corn Breeding Research Meeting
Harshita Mangal, Waqar Ali, Karla Cuéllar, and Zhongjie Ji presented at the Corn Breeding Research meeting. -
Niranjan Pokhrel rotation
We welcome Niranjan Pokhrel, a PhD student rotating through our lab as part of the Complex Biosystems program at UNL. Niranjan will be working closely with Zhongjie on the analysis of UAV data. -
Zhongjie Ji canopy modeling talk
Dr. Zhongjie Ji delivered a talk on “Advance Canopy Architecture Modeling in Maize” to the Collective Research Organization of Plant Scientists (UNL’s plant grad student and postdoc organization) seminar series. -
Zhongjie Ji named Heuermann Scholar
Zhongjie Ji, the newest UNL-PSI Heuermann postdoctoral scholar recipient, will be working with our lab and UNL Plant Phenomics to translate new plant phenotyping technologies to the field. Welcome Zhongjie!
Recent Publications
- (2025) Scalable methods for quantifying the stay green ability of corn for yield prediction by using satellite images. agriRxiv doi: 10.31220/agriRxiv.2025.00339 Preprint
- (2026) A sequence-based classifier distinguishes phenotype-associated genes from other gene models in plants Genome Research doi: 10.1101/gr.281802.125 bioRxiv doi: 10.64898/2025.11.30.691407