Murat Kacira

Dr. Murat Kacira joined the Department of Biosystems Engineering faculty at University of Arizona in October 2007. For over twenty years, he has been active in teaching and research related to controlled environment agriculture (CEA) with working experiences in academia and research institutions in the Unites States, Turkey, and Japan. He now serves as the director of the University of Arizona's Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (UA-CEAC).  

His research has involved areas of greenhouse and plant energy balance studies, plant growth and health monitoring using image processing and machine vision applications, design and development of continuous plant monitoring systems, photovoltaics integrated greenhouse systems, automation and control in algae production systems by novel sensors and control strategy applications. 

Kacira has given lectures regularly at the CEAC Greenhouse Crop Production and Engineering Short Course and invited lectures both at the national and international scientific meetings and conferences. He teaches undergraduate and graduate level engineering courses at The University of Arizona, which include BE 284 – Biosystems Thermal Engineering as well as BE/PLS 479/579 – Applied Instrumentation for Controlled Environment Agriculture.  He also is a member of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). 

Awards

• Outstanding Service Medal
  • International Society of Horticultural Sciences (ISHS), Summer 2018
• Service Medal
  • International Society of Horticultural Sciences, Summer 2018
• ASABE Superior Paper Award
  • American Society of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Summer 2014
• EurAgEng Outstanding Paper Award
  • Biosystems Engineering Journal, Summer 2014 (Award Nominee)