To boost TAU’s Agritech capacity

          SMART Agriculture Center manager undergoes upskilling at ITS

By Mr. Jerome L. Duque

Powering up Tarlac Agricultural University's (TAU) agro-digital ecosystem is Dr. Amy Lizbeth J. Rico’s foremost goal when she decided to sign up for CommTECH 2022, a virtual venture by Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Indonesia’s bellwether in technological innovations.

 The manager of Sustainable Mechanized Agriculture for Research and Technology (SMART) Agriculture Center, was joined in Subcourse B by scientists from Dalian University of Science and Technology, University Malaysia of Computer Science and Engineering, and Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges. Together, they analyzed several software with far-reaching applications in various fields of study.

“We probed cognitive factors and interspersed them with  human-computer interaction,” Dr. Rico shared. Her group designed an interface and evaluated cognitive processes in relation to contemporary cognitive ergonomics applications. Her group’s pitch was also adjudged as the Best Topic during the presentation.

Such training is especially suited for Dr. Rico, as she integrates information technology in some of TAU’s flagship projects like the SMART Agriculture Center, Satellite-Imagery Crop Monitoring and Forecasting Systems for Agriculture and Technology (SICAT), and the Floating Agricultural Garden.

ITS has an on-going partnership agreement with TAU covering collaborations in research,  skills development, and regular student and faculty exchange programs.