Lirong Xiang

Assistant Professor, Biological and Environmental Engineering

About

Dr. Lirong Xiang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University.She was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and affiliated with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State University, as well as the NC Plant Sciences Initiative. Dr. Xiang received her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from Iowa State University and her B.S. in Biosystems Engineering from Zhejiang University. She currently serves as a guest editor for Computers and Electronics in Agriculture and as an associate editor for the Journal of the ASABE. Dr. Xiang’s research interests include robotics, computer vision, and machine learning, with a focus on creating innovative, sustainable solutions for crop production, plant health monitoring, and agricultural system optimization.

Education

B.S. Biosystems Engineering, Zhejiang University, China, 2017

Ph.D. Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, USA, 2022

Recent Research

Dr. Xiang’s research focuses on developing smart cyber-physical systems that integrate cutting-edge robotics, machine vision, and machine learning technologies to automate labor-intensive tasks in agricultural systems. Her research topics include, but are not limited to: AI and robotic sensing for controlled environment agriculture; bio-inspired robotic systems for complex agricultural environments; indoor and outdoor high-throughput phenotyping; and digital twins and simulation platforms for agricultural automation.

Awards & Honors

Faculty Early Career Award, Association of Overseas Chinese Agricultural, Biological, and Food Engineers (AOCABFE), 2025
Faculty Research Award, Cisco, 2025
Outstanding Research Award, NC State University, 2025
Goodnight Early Career Innovators, NC State University, 2024-25
New Innovator Award, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), 2024
Outstanding Service Award, AOCABFE, 2024
Dissertation nominated for "2024 Pellizzi Prize", Club of Bologna, 2024
The Reverend P.T. Taiganides Award (Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate Student in Agriculture Engineering), 2022
Research Excellence Award, Iowa State University, 2021

Courses Taught

Dr. Xiang will teach courses related to agricultural sensing and control.

Contact Information

lxiang [at] cornell.edu

- Xiang Lab

Lirong in the news

Lirong Xiang/Provided Cornell researchers stand with an autonomous biosecurity system in a tomato greenhouse. With support from a 2026 Academic Venture Fund, they will develop robotic and diagnostic technologies to improve early detection of plant diseases and strengthen climate-resilient greenhouse agriculture.

News

June 11, 2026

Cornell Atkinson awards drive progress in tech, ag, sustainability

Cornell Atkinson has awarded $900k to support six new research projects that seek to protect coral reefs, improve greenhouse agriculture and understand whether wildfires affect disease spread.

Cornell Atkinson
Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
Biological and Environmental Engineering

Spotlight

September 24, 2025

Meet our faculty: Lirong Xiang

Academic focus: Robotics and artificial intelligence in agriculture, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) Research summary: My research focuses on developing smart cyber-physical systems that integrate cutting-edge robotics, computer vision...

Biological and Environmental Engineering
Agriculture