Cranos Williams
Platform Director, NC Plant Sciences Initiative
He/Him/His
Biography
Dr. Cranos Williams is the Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Analytics at NC State University with primary and secondary appointments in the electrical and computer engineering and plant and microbial biology departments, respectively. He also serves as the Platform Director of the Data-Driven Plant Sciences research platform of the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (https://cals.ncsu.edu/psi/) and is the head of the EnBiSys Research Laboratory (https://research.ece.ncsu.edu/enbisys/). Dr. Williams’ research lab develops methodologies familiar to other areas of electrical and computer engineering (e.g. computational intelligence, machine learning, system identification, nonlinear systems analysis and control, computer vision, and signal processing) to quantify, model, and predict the impact that genetic and environmental perturbations have on overall plant response. The results from these works will have direct implications on key challenges associated with engineering plants for efficient biofuel production, increased adaptability to changing environments, and improved defense to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Education
-
Ph.D.
2008
Electrical Engineering
North Carolina State University, Raleigh -
Master's
2002
Electrical Engineering
North Carolina State University, Raleigh -
Bachelor's
2001
Electrical Engineering
NC A&T State University, Greensboro
Recent Publications
- Advancing sweetpotato quality assessment with hyperspectral imaging and explainable artificial intelligence (2024)
- Dynamics of BMP signaling and stable gene expression in the early Drosophila embryo (2024)
- Evaluating two high-throughput phenotyping platforms at early stages of the post-harvest pipeline of sweetpotatoes (2024)
- Predicting sweetpotato traits using machine learning: Impact of environmental and agronomic factors on shape and size (2024)
- Spatiotemporal dynamics of NF-κB/Dorsal inhibitor IκBα/Cactus inDrosophilablastoderm embryos (2024)
- The Black American experience: Answering the global challenge of broadening participation in STEM/agriculture (2024)
- Cellular clarity: a logistic regression approach to identify root epidermal regulators of iron deficiency response (2023)
- Multiplex CRISPR editing of wood for sustainable fiber production (2023)
- Compositionality, sparsity, spurious heterogeneity, and other data-driven challenges for machine learning algorithms within plant microbiome studies (2022)
- Dynamics of BMP signaling in the earlyDrosophilaembryo (2022)
Highlighted Awards
Awards & Honors
- 2023 - University Faculty Scholar
- 2021 - Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, Induction into Research Leadership Academy
- 2019 - Selected for National Academy of Engineering, Frontiers of Engineering Symposium
- 2019 - Alcoa Foundation Research Achievement Award
- 2013 - ECE William F. Lane Teaching Award
- 2009-2010 - Faculty Research and Professional Development Award
- 2003-2008 - National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Recent News
New Training Program Tackles AI and Plant Science Challenges
Posted on September 11, 2024 | Filed Under: AI/ML and Research
GRAD-AID for Ag will give graduate students the chance to drive innovation in artificial intelligence technologies at the intersection of basic and applied plant sciences.
Faculty Making a Lasting Impact
Posted on December 27, 2022 | Filed Under: Faculty and News
The students of Dr. Winser Alexander have created the WEA Endowment Committee to honor Alexander’s legacy during his time at NC State.
Cranos Williams Named Goodnight Distinguished Professor
Posted on March 23, 2022 | Filed Under: Faculty
NC State faculty member Cranos Williams was recently named a Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Agricultural Analytics by the College of Engineering and CALS.
Media Mentions
Computational tool offers new insight into key biological processes
March 10, 2014
NC State researchers have developed a computational tool designed to guide future research on biochemical pathways that govern a host of biological processes. Cranos Williams, electrical and computer engineering, featured.