Sigfredo Augusto Fuentes Jara

Sigfredo Augusto Fuentes Jara is an Associate Professor in Digital Agriculture, Food and Wine Sciences within the School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, Faculty of Science, at the University of Melbourne. He obtained his Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences from the University of Talca, Chile, in 1999, and his PhD from Western Sydney University, Australia. His research specializations encompass climate change impacts on agriculture, development of computational tools for plant physiology, food, and wine sciences, implementation of emerging sensor technologies, and proximal to satellite remote sensing using robotics, UAVs, and machine learning/artificial intelligence applications.

Fuentes has a distinguished career marked by over 160 peer-reviewed publications, garnering more than 10,487 citations on Google Scholar. Key publications include “Environmental Factors and Seasonality Affect the Concentration of Rotundone and Other Compounds in Vitis vinifera L. Shiraz/Rhone Grapes and Wine” (PLOS ONE, 2015), “Assessment of sunflower water stress using infrared thermography” (Water Science & Technology, 2021), “Using tech to save wine from bushfire smoke” (Pursuit by the University of Melbourne, 2019), and “New developments and opportunities for AI in viticulture, pomology, and soft-fruit research: a mini-review and invitation to contribute articles” (Frontiers in Horticulture, 2023). He has received the 2019 Plant Physiology Teaching Award from the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology, the 2004 F.G. Swain Award from Western Sydney University, and was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in 2023. As Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space, his work impacts space agriculture research for NASA missions. His innovations include digital technologies for grapevine smoke contamination assessment and electronic noses for food sensory evaluation.

Professional Email: sfuentes@unimelb.edu.au