The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research has announced the 11 latest recipients of its New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award.
FFAR presents the award to early-career scientists that support research in FFAR’s research priority areas, including climate, water, biodiversity, animal welfare and social issues. As part of the award, the foundation presents the winning scientists with funding to continue food and agriculture search, according to a news release. The foundation said winners will receive a total of $4,818,715 cumulatively over three years.
“Addressing the present and future challenges that the U.S. food and agricultural industry faces requires a dynamic and highly skilled scientific workforce. As such, strengthening the scientific workforce is one of FFAR’s priorities,” Saharah Moon Chapotin, FFAR executive director, said in the release. “This year’s winners are conducting bold research, and we are pleased to invest in their careers.”
The research projects selected are:
- Leigh Archer, Rodale Institute, establishing viable organic orchard crop systems for the Northeast U.S.
- Ahmed Badran, The Scripps Research Institute, next-generation carbon capture for agricultural crop applications.
- Yifan Cheng, Virginia Tech, orthogonal nano-engineering (one) for rational design of food contact surfaces.
- Kiran Gadhave, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, using a novel RNA therapy to tackle the dual threat of tomato spotted wilt virus, a pandemic agricultural pathogen, and its supervector, thrips.
- Rachel Hestrin, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, harnessing mycorrhizal-microbial synergies for agricultural resilience and health.
- Michael Kotutwa Johnson, University of Arizona, revitalization of indigenous crops in the Southwest.
- Margaret Krause, Oregon State University, big data to improve and sustain wheat end-use quality in the face of increasingly variable climate scenarios.
- Zhaoxu Meng, Clemson University, advancing the design and fabrication of biopolymer-based nanocomposites for sustainable food packaging.
- Yujin Park, Arizona State University, developing circular urban food systems for a rapidly growing desert city.
- Subhashni Raj, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, food security in the anthropocene in islander communities.
- Itamar Shabtai, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Research Foundation Inc., evaluating the use of calcium silicate amendments to manage the bioavailability of organic carbon in agricultural soil.
