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Begin With Collaboration  JOE MARI MAJA

A research sensor engineer in Clemson’s Department of Agricultural Sciences, Joe Mari Maja works in precision agriculture, equipping South Carolina farmers with accessible, high-tech solutions for their fields. Maja grew up only seeing computers on television and in movies. But his journey from seeing a computer on screen to building them in the lab has enabled him to grow farmers’ understanding in powerful new ways.

Joe stands next to his rover in a cotton field.

WATCH
JOE’S
STORY

Begin with Collaboration

Grow your understanding

Learning computer engineering from scratch took a special kind of work ethic that has served Maja well throughout his career.

The college lab where he took his first computer programming classes was open for three, three-hour blocks each Saturday. When students cycled out for a new lab, Maja would simply go to the back of the line, and if there was an empty computer, he’d sit down for another three-hour class.

“I would spend at least six hours in the lab on Saturdays and wouldn’t eat anything until dinner. And then I’d line up and do it all over again. I just got this notion that if you can create a computer program, you’re way ahead.”

Maja aced his computer fundamentals coursework that semester. Learning to write programs and focusing on microprocessor-based design also introduced him to influential faculty, and those connections helped set the trajectory of his career.

The fundamentals of coding he learned as a first-year college student in the Philippines still inform his work on complex, electronic boards he now creates for cutting-edge precision agriculture equipment. His journey also gives him a unique understanding of the challenge of acquiring new skills. It’s something that serves him well when he’s inviting farmers to embrace, adopt and employ new technologies for their work.

Joe assists a colleague as they work on a computer. Joe poses in front of a building on campus.

Travel the world

Over the next decade, Maja’s work transported him from the Philippines to Japan to Lorient, France, back to the Philippines and then finally to the U.S. for his postdoctoral work.

A simple algorithm Maja created while he was in Japan allowed robots to navigate using a single sensing modality, a significant improvement from navigational technology in use at the time that required multiple ultrasonic sensors, which slowed processing speeds. Every opportunity that crossed Maja’s path became a stepping stone to even more chances for creativity and collaboration with like-minded scientists and engineers, finally landing him at a postdoctoral position with the University of Florida and then Clemson.

Collaborate in
The Field

Nearly 200 farmers participate in Clemson’s
Field Day biannual outreach program at its Edisto
REC to learn about emerging agriculture
technologies.

Find Solutions
In The Soil

Professors in Clemson’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences conduct their research in campus facilities and at six Research and Education Centers (RECs) strategically located throughout South Carolina according to the state’s distinct soil and climate regions.

View Research Facilities
Create Industry
Partnerships

Agritronix Devices for South Carolina has
received more than 60 federal grants and 25
private grants to date.

Envision the future

Maja secured a six-year postdoc position in Florida in 2007 that focused on agriculture, though not robotics specifically. Early on, Maja saw an opportunity to create a niche through his emphasis on mechanization.

“I realized that all of my research, even the things that were way outside of agriculture, could be really beneficial to agriculture at the time.”

Collaboration led Maja to build his first drone and, as important, develop drone technology that allowed researchers to collect data on things like soil moisture, among other field conditions. It turned out to be revolutionary work.

Joe investigates a drone in a cotton field.

Collaboration led Maja to build his first drone and, as important, develop drone technology that allowed researchers to collect data on things like soil moisture, among other field conditions. It turned out to be revolutionary work.

When Clemson University invited him to build a drone and then train their researchers to use it during one of their twice-yearly Field Days, Maja accepted the invitation, and shortly thereafter, he also accepted his position at Clemson, which led to building his lab and his current body of work here.

A dream realized

Maja has spent the better part of his career envisioning and creating technology that makes a real-world difference for farmers. But as he’s grown his research, Maja has also realized that he needs to be able to build the technology he designs. So, he established a lab that allows him to work faster and more efficiently than many thought possible.

Within a year of being hired by Clemson and with the support of his dean, George Askew, Maja established the Sensor and Automation Laboratory at Clemson University’s Edisto Research and Education Center (REC). The lab houses 10 unique but connected machines that allow researchers to go from idea to physical prototype design in two days or less for everything from sensors to circuit boards. These components are the foundation of the most cutting-edge emerging agricultural technologies, including small, unmanned aircraft systems, robotic vehicles and more.

Joe adjusts a sensor out in a cotton field. The front of the Sensor and Automation Laboratory at Clemson University's Edisto Research and Education Center (REC).

“We have the rapid prototyping equipment all in house, which is very unique. You don’t see this kind of lab other places. I haven’t seen one like it yet in Boston or Spain or Germany or anywhere I’ve been.”

Transforming the technology

Progress has been swift, and Maja can now envision a day in the not-so-distant future when the technology created in Clemson’s lab is in the hands of everyday farmers, helping them make faster decisions about crop care. The technology Clemson is developing under his guidance today will soon take information from the field and feed it into something as accessible as a smartphone.

“As a land-grant university, Clemson has a responsibility to the farmers of South Carolina. Our focus on making agriculture prosper is one of the reasons why we’re all here.”

Serving Our State
A fence seperates two fields. On the right field a tractor is driving and there is a building in the background.

“As a land-grant university, Clemson has a responsibility to the farmers of South Carolina. Our focus on making agriculture prosper is one of the reasons why we’re all here.”

Drones and radio-frequency identification are already being used by Maja’s research team to improve inventory management of ornamentals, plants typically found in commercial nurseries. He also has a collaboration with the industry group Cotton Inc. It is a 10-year robotics and automation project for cotton harvesting, and it puts him in close contact with a number of other universities also working toward automation alongside Cotton Inc.

Students are the other key part of Maja’s research group, and he guides them into new areas of understanding, pushing them outside program design into the physical process of building equipment and handling related mechanics.

Tomorrow's
farmers, today

The day-to-day challenges of tending the fields are ever-present. But expansion is the future, which is why South Carolina’s farmers need support and continued investment to stay competitive.

The new face of farming is equal parts empowered business owner and traditional land manager. Employing new technology to improve efficiency is the next best step to stay ahead of the curve, Maja says.

“Building precision agriculture specific to South Carolina is one of the reasons Clemson exists. Our innovation today is helping us engineer the next generation of technology with — and for — the farmers of tomorrow.”

Joe is walking in front of a field of crops preparing to unload equipment off of a four wheeler.

“Building precision agriculture specific to South Carolina is one of the reasons Clemson exists. Our innovation today is helping us engineer the next generation of technology with — and for — the farmers of tomorrow.”

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