COLUMBUS, Ohio — John Fulton has been appointed as a Dean’s Chair in The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), effective June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2030.
The appointment recognizes Fulton’s leadership in precision and digital agriculture and supports a strategic CFAES initiative focused on the role of artificial intelligence in Ohio State University Extension.
Dean’s Chair appointments support priority areas across the college’s teaching, research and outreach missions. Faculty selected for the role are recognized for advancing scholarly work that contributes to Ohio’s communities and economy. The appointments provide faculty leaders with support to pursue innovative programs that align with CFAES priorities and strengthen the college’s impact across Ohio and beyond.
As a Dean’s Chair, Fulton will focus on AI implementation and the evolving needs of Extension, CFAES’ outreach arm. His work will help evaluate how AI can be responsibly introduced to strengthen Extension programming, improve collaboration across the college and better serve Ohio communities while maintaining trust, ethics and human-centered values.
“Dr. Fulton is a nationally recognized leader in precision and digital agriculture whose work has consistently focused on delivering practical, research-based solutions to producers and communities,” said Cathann A. Kress, Ohio State vice president for agricultural administration and CFAES dean. “Through this Dean’s Chair appointment, he will help us evaluate how AI can support Extension professionals and the people they serve in ways that are responsible, transparent and aligned with our land-grant mission.”
Fulton serves as a professor in the CFAES Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering. His research and Extension programs focus on precision agriculture, machinery automation, data analytics and digital agriculture technologies that support efficient crop production.
Through his work with Ohio State Extension, Fulton collaborates with farmers, agricultural retailers, consultants and equipment manufacturers to evaluate emerging technologies on Ohio farms. He also helps lead the eFields effort, an on-farm research program that helps producers use data-driven insights to guide management decisions.
“I am honored by this appointment and grateful for the opportunity to help shape how AI is used within Extension,” Fulton said. “My goal is to work closely with Extension professionals, researchers and partners across Ohio to develop tools and approaches that make AI understandable, trustworthy and genuinely useful in supporting farmers, families and communities.”
Fulton earned a BA in physics from Wittenberg University and both an MA in agricultural engineering and a PhD in biosystems and agricultural engineering from the University of Kentucky.
