Justin Zabilansky

Justin Zabilansky

Director of Engineering Design


AeroFarms

Newark, NJ USA


There’s a whole lot of opportunities within this space to not only create lettuce factories but do a lot of different stuff with this type of technology that can hopefully impact the world in a very positive way.

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Justin Zabilansky

Milestones

My road in life has been direct.
I grew up learning to grow and hunt my own food and live off the land as much as possible.
Coming out of high school, I knew I was interested in sustainability, biology, and engineering.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in biological engineering and was initially considering either going into pharmaceuticals or continuing my education.
I heard about this new thing called vertical farming and thought it sounded interesting, so I reached out to the founder of AeroFarms for an opportunity.
I started at AeroFarms in the research and development department where I worked on machine vision applications and data analysis.
I eventually moved into the production facility and learned how to operate our large grow room.
I currently work as the director of engineering design and spend my time figuring out how we create a controlled environment and systems that enable automation for large scale growing.
Keep following my journey

Education

High School
Bachelor
Biological/Biosystems Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Career

Director of Engineering Design

I make sure our systems are optimized for large scale growing.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Engineering
Science
Building Things

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for college students

My background is in biological engineering but we also have people here who are working on the control side, mechanical side, and electrical side. We need a variety of skillsets in this field, so if one of those engineering specializations calls to you, there's likely a need for it here.

Interviewed By

Skill Shift

Skill Shift

Skills and training to help you find your place in the future of work