Opening a Dialogue with Plants

I see plants as exceptional ‘engineers’. They control chemical and physical processes in elegant and unexpected ways and play dominant roles in defining the well-being of people and the planet. Plants also present understudied challenges that can inspire innovations and foster discoveries in engineering and the physical sciences. With CROPPS, I hope to learn from plants and plant scientists, to open new dialogues that will guide exciting developments in both the life sciences and engineering, and to empower future generations of digital biologists who will define sustainable and robust interactions between humans and plant systems.

Plant systems have captured my imagination since my doctoral work in the field of microfluidics. Walking through the Redwood National Forest in California, I looked up and thought: “How can it be? How could this massive organism overcome gravity to move water from the soil to its needles?” The thermodynamics and dynamics seemed impossible. When I set up my lab at Cornell, my first graduate student and I set out to “learn by building.” We created a primitive ‘synthetic tree’ that showed, for the first time, that the thermodynamics and dynamics of water movement in plants, though exotic, are feasible and engineerable. Since that breakthrough, I have sought and cultivated collaborations with plant scientists so that I could develop a tool to learn directly from plants. My lab designed a sensor that let me listen to plants and hear when they are under water stress. That was my first ‘CROPPS’ moment; my first experience of the thrill of communicating with plants!

Hearing from one plant was astonishing, but plants don’t exist as isolated individuals, they are in constant interaction with each other and their surrounding environment. To understand plant ‘engineering’ requires studying not only the complex details of individual plant functions but how they work together within the full complexity of a complete environment. This requires moving research out of the lab and into the world as it is. With CROPPS, I hope to bring engineers and plant scientists together to break down existing knowledge boundaries—between engineering and plant science but also between lab science and field science. Through these collaborations, CROPPS will provide a vibrant community in which researchers can transcend existing boundaries and understand plants not just as mute entities in isolated, controlled environments, but as gregarious, communicative participants in a dynamic interactive ecological system.

Research themes: Plant Systems, Plant Programming

Photo by Dave Burbank

In the Frank lab, we are interested in how plants communicate both locally (between groups of cells) and over long distances (between root and shoot systems). We are developing new approaches to block, deliver, and image mobile signals; to rewire natural/native communication systems to enable new conversations between plants, people, and their environment; and to track existing conversations within plants using high-throughput sequencing and computational approaches. By learning more about the language of plants we hope to eventually participate in this biocommunication. As the co-lead for the Plant Communication (iTOC) group, and an active participant in CROPPS, I am excited to be working in this highly collaborative space where we are exploring new routes to “listen” and “speak” to plants.

Research Theme: Integrative Team for Organismal Communication (iTOC)

As a computer engineer, I am always excited by complex problems, because complexity often requires computers to find effective solutions! With CROPPS, I seek to use my expertise by imagining hardware-software approaches that enable high-performance plant data collection and computation in the farm and the cloud.

In the last few years, work in my field has shifted away from a decades-long interest in general-purpose computers to developing more specialized programmable hardware optimized for specific domains. Within CROPPS, I believe at least two contexts are ripe for such domain-specific computers. One of these two contexts is systems that can efficiently collect, analyze, and act upon data from sensors distributed through a farm. For example, data from various sensors may suggest that crops could be under water stress, which a cloud-based algorithm may decide to act upon, producing an irrigation schedule that mitigates the problem while minimizing water waste and energy consumption. The other context more intimately involves a plant’s genetic make-up, literally transforming it into a living sensor that can tell us about its condition and that of its surrounding environment through phenotypic expression—a change in leaf translucence or pigmentation, for example. Figuring out exactly how to “program” the plant’s genome to communicate in that way requires significant computational power. These two contexts combined create a true “Internet of Living Things.”

My other role in CROPPS is as Associate Director for Institutional Engagement. By emphasizing continuous engagement with and mentorship of CROPPS students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty alike, we seek to nurture members from a wide variety of backgrounds and lived experiences. Ultimately, we aspire to create a new generation of scientists and leaders that will become agents of change during and after their CROPPS tenure.

Research themes: Plant Systems, Public Engagement

As Executive Director of the Center for Digital Agriculture at the University of Illinois, I have the privilege of leading an innovative team at the forefront of agricultural technology. My role as the Illinois campus lead for CROPPS further amplifies my commitment to pioneering sustainable and efficient agricultural practices. Additionally, my position as a Research Professor in Computer Science, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering allows me to blend theoretical knowledge with practical applications, a synergy that fuels my passion for advancing the agricultural sector.

My career spans over 35 years of technology leadership in both industry and academia, marked by a dedication to innovation and excellence. From 1986 to 2000, I served on the faculty at the University of Illinois, where my research focused on the sensing, automation, and control of agricultural systems, including crops, plants, food, and more. This period laid the foundation for my lifelong commitment to enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of agriculture through technology.

In 2001, I embarked on a transformative journey with Deere and Company, where I spearheaded the development of enterprise field robotics capabilities. My tenure at Deere was characterized by my role in innovation management, particularly as Director, Enterprise Product Innovation and Technology, which I led for 14 years. My efforts were recognized in 2017 when I was honored as a John Deere Technical Fellow for my contributions to Technology Innovation, a milestone that reflects my dedication to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in agricultural technology.

My election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 stands as one of my proudest achievements, acknowledging my contributions to automation in agriculture. This accolade not only represents the culmination of years of hard work and dedication but also reaffirms my commitment to advancing agricultural practices through innovation and technology.

My lab group is interested in understanding how plants sense and respond to their environment so that we can create genetic circuits that can control plant health and growth and can let us know what a plant is “thinking” and what it needs to grow at its highest potential. Our first goal will be to create circuits controlled by light (optogenetic switches and circuits), which will allow us non-invasively to control and monitor plants without chemicals. These technologies will be crucial to efforts to develop new plant varieties that can thrive in dynamic, stressful environments.

Research Theme: Plant Communications