Berry Breeding Intern

Driscoll’s•Watsonville, CA

6d•$19 - $40

About The Position

This internship offers a plant breeding, agronomy, plant physiology, or plant biology student with a strong background in image processing, big data analysis, and database management, the unique opportunity to explore working with a highly collaborative agricultural Research and Development group focused on breeding strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. The intern will work most closely with the Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry Molecular Breeders and their corresponding teams at Driscoll’s. The intern will be responsible for collecting and annotating images of berry fruits to generate model-ready data and protocols that support future analytical and deep learning efforts. Additionally, the intern will have the opportunity to participate in general day-to-day breeding activities during peak berry season, including but not limited to seedling selection, fruit evaluation, and phenotyping (field time will be adjusted according to the intern's interest and the time requirement of their main project). At the end of the internship, they will present the data and conclusion of their main projects in a report and will give an oral presentation and/or prepare a poster to discuss their findings.

Requirements

Working towards a Bachelor’s or Master's Degree in Horticulture, Plant Breeding, Plant Science, Agronomy, Agricultural Engineering or a related field
Coursework in plant breeding, biology, and genetics-related courses.
Experience with image dataset preprocessing for model training
Experience with image dataset labeling/validation
Ability to manage, process, and interpret large, complex datasets using statistical modeling, deep learning, and AI for predictive analytics
Familiarity with Python and R
Valid driver’s license, transportation, and the ability to be covered under a company-sponsored vehicle insurance program.
Ability to build components of an overall workflow.
Understand the scientific method.
Be attentive to details.
Be able to work in offices, labs, and outdoor field environments (lab and outdoor components).
Have great communication skills.
Be reliable, honest, and trustworthy.

Nice To Haves

Experience with image-based plant phenotyping platforms and analysis workflows (preferred)

Responsibilities

Work with the Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry Molecular Breeders to define imaging platforms and phenotypic scales to use in each team and prioritize fruit quality traits to focus on in the summer.
Collect and annotate images of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.
Develop a protocol to obtain data ready to use in analysis, including GWAS and genomic prediction.
Share progress and challenges with the four breeding teams.
Share findings through detailed documentation and summarized reports.
Present findings, and provide recommendations based on findings.
Responsible for managing activities in collaboration with the breeding teams and collaborative research teams to accomplish planned growth.
Represents Driscoll’s in an ethical and business-like professional manner in all interactions with growers, co-workers, suppliers, customers, and the business community at large.
Ensure Driscoll’s confidential and proprietary information and materials.
Collect berry phenotypic data in the field, fruit lab, and/or greenhouse as needed.
Assist in seedling selection and fruit evaluation for four breeding programs as needed.
Help the different teams in day-to-day activities, such as plant tissue collection, fruit juicing.