4 O’ Clock Forum Seminar Series: Patterns of Life

Patterns of Life: Machine Learning Uncovers How Extremophiles Adapt and Evolve

About the speaker

Dr. Gurjit S. Randhawa

Assistant Professor, School of Computer Science, University of Guelph

Dr. Gurjit S. Randhawa is an Assistant Professor at the School of Computer Science, University of Guelph, Canada. He earned his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo. His research applies machine learning and artificial intelligence to uncover biological patterns in genomics and bioinformatics and to drive innovations in precision agriculture. Building on this foundation, Dr. Randhawa’s laboratory develops interpretable and scalable AI tools for genomic signal processing, evolutionary classification, and environmental metagenomics. He extends these computational frameworks to robotics and precision agriculture, integrating AI-driven computer vision, autonomous systems, and multi-sensor imaging for precision scouting, pest and disease management, and data-informed decision support. His vision is to integrate genomic insights with phenotypic intelligence through machine learning to drive predictive, data-informed, and sustainable agricultural innovation. His research has been supported by major Canadian funding agencies including NSERC, Mitacs, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA), and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. Through his interdisciplinary work, Dr. Randhawa envisions a future where machine learning unifies our understanding of biological complexity and drives sustainable transformation in agriculture and beyond.