Irwin Donis Gonzalez

Experience

• 

  Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

  Jan 2002 - Jan 2005

  Field and greenhouse Assistant Technician

  Organized and coordinated green house and field activities.Detected plant diseases using biological methods (mechanical inoculation and grafting) in herbaceous and citrus plants.Investigated the presence of plant diseases of economical importance in Guatemala.

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  LATCERT

  Jan 2005 - Jan 2006

  Shareholder and CEO

  Established certification and consulting company for agriculture and food quality.Established and supervised the business logistics and strategies of the company.Verified and conducted C.A.F.E Practices criteria, a requirement to export coffee to Starbucks U.S.A.

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  Michigan State University

  Jan 2007 - Jan 2013

  •Evaluated non-invasive sensing electronic technologies (color, near infrared (NIR), x-ray, and CT imaging) to sort fresh products (Chestnuts, carrots, tart & sweet cherries, pickling cucumber, pineapples and potatoes).Conducted trials to correlate multiple electronic technologies outputs with internal quality assessment fresh produce.Trained students to perform invasive qualitative and quantitative assessment in fresh agricultural commodities.Developed pattern recognition, image, and classification techniques (using R and MATLAB).Established collaborations between academic institutions, departments and industry partners to evaluate sensing technologies.Co-wrote specialty crops block, ARS/USDA, and NIFA/USDA grants to study inline CT sorting of fresh agricultural products. Show less

  • Graduate Research Assistant

    Jan 2008 - Jan 2013

  • Graduate Research Assistant

    Jan 2006 - Jan 2008

  • Teaching Assistant

    Jan 2007 - Jan 2007
• 

  Michigan State University

  Aug 2013 - Sept 2015

  Visiting Research Associate - Post-doctoral fellow

  Evaluate non-invasive sensing electronic technologies (color, near infrared (NIR), x-ray, and CT imaging) to sort fresh products (Chestnuts, carrots, tart & sweet cherries, pickling cucumber, pineapples and potatoes).Conduct trials to correlate multiple electronic technologies outputs with internal quality assessment fresh produce.Train students to perform invasive qualitative and quantitative assessment in fresh agricultural commodities.Develop pattern recognition, image, and classification techniques (using R and MATLAB).Establish collaborations between academic institutions, departments and industry partners to evaluate sensing technologies.Co-write specialty crops block, ARS/USDA, and NIFA/USDA grants to study inline CT sorting of fresh agricultural products. Show less

• 

  University of California, Davis

  Oct 2015 - now

  At UC Davis I will focus my work in postharvest engineering, handling (storage, drying, etc.), traceability, and processing of agricultural commodities with a goal of reducing energy consumption while ensuring food quality and safety. These are critical issues for the fresh market fruit and vegetable, dried fruit, tree nut, and rice industries in California and the rest of the world.

  • Associate Professor of Cooperative Extension in Postharvest Engineering

    Aug 2023 - now

  • Assistant Postharvest Systems Engineering Specialist in Cooperative Extension

    Oct 2015 - Oct 2023