天美传媒

Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) Project Deputy Director Lisa Ainsworth is a Research Plant Physiologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and an adjunct professor of plant biology and crop sciences at the University of Illinois. Lisa鈥檚 research applies physiological, biochemical, and genomic tools to understand the mechanisms of plant responses to global climate change. Her current research is quantifying genetic variation in response to elevated ozone concentrations among diverse inbred and hybrid maize lines in the field. She is also developing high-throughput phenotyping techniques to identify ozone sensitivity and the genes and gene networks underpinning these ozone responses in corn and soybeans. For the RIPE project, she is working on understanding the architecture of crop canopies and how this structure impacts their photosynthetic efficiency. 

Lisa earned her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and went on to earn her doctorate from Illinois. She has received the Charles Albert Shull Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists, the President鈥檚 Medal from the Society of Experimental Biology, and was named a University Scholar by Illinois. She was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019. In addition, Lisa was honored with the 2019 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences, and she was elected to the NAS in 2020. In 2021, Lisa was named the USDA-ARS' Distinguished Senior Research Scientist of the Year. Currently, she serves on the editorial boards of Science Advances and Plant, Cell & Environment. Her work has been published in many peer-reviewed journals, including Science, PNAS, and Plant Physiology. 

 uses supercomputing and DNA sequencing to solve problems in plant, animal, and human genetics. His current research focuses on how crops are bred and on ways to treat and prevent plant, animal, and human diseases. He is particularly interested in the genetics of crop traits and the genetic and molecular interactions of soybeans with pathogens, pests, and other organisms.
More information: Hudson's research interests center on the use of high-performance computational techniques to pursue questions in genomic biology. His research program focuses on the genomic variants that control trait variation in plants, nonhuman animals and human populations, funded by grants from the NSF, DOE, and USDA as well as private companies, foundations, and commodity boards. He teaches award-winning classes at Illinois on the interface between biology and computing.
Affiliations: Hudson is a professor in the , part of the  (ACES) at U. of I. He is also co-director of the , science integration chair for the  (CABBI), and faculty affiliate at the .

 improves the efficiency and productivity of cereal crops by optimizing photosynthesis and water use. His research helps develop crops that are resilient to climate change and meet the needs of growers at the regional, national, and international levels.
More information: Studer's lab studies the evolution, regulation, and function of the carbon concentrating mechanism employed by plants for C4 photosynthesis. This process plays an important role in carbon dioxide uptake and transpirational water loss, and thus, has direct implications for photosynthetic and water-use efficiency. Elucidating the genetic control of photosynthesis will enable the manipulation of crops (through both breeding and engineering) to improve productivity and sustainability, which will be vital for food and fuel security in a changing environment.
Affiliations: Studer is an associate professor in the  in the  (ACES) at the . He is also affiliated with the  the  (CABBI), the , and the  at U. of I.