Since its dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony in April, the NC State University Plant Sciences Building has been coming to life. With each new week, more immensely talented researchers, ranging from faculty and postdocs to graduate students, come to begin their work here. While some are just starting, others are continuing their projects at our new location.
Our platform leadership team is complete. We welcomed Rachel Vann as the new Extension, Outreach and Engagement platform director and Terri Long as the Education and Workforce Development platform director. They join PDs Cranos Williams, Ross Sozzani, and Chris Reberg-Horton to provide a multifaceted approach to implementing plant science innovations.
True to our vision of using interdisciplinary, team-based science to solve grand challenges in agriculture, N.C. PSI researchers come from many different backgrounds. Our discipline-leading agricultural scientists are supported by resident experts in robotics, bioinformatics, imaging systems and more than 20 other areas of study.
Also true to our vision, our new headquarters houses researchers from all major sectors of the scientific world: academia, government and industry.
We have brought together the brightest minds to tackle many issues intersecting agriculture and society today, like climate change and increasing food insecurity due to rapid population growth and urban development.
Speaking of coming together, we have held a few events recently to strengthen our budding PSI culture, introduce key team members and build community. We started with a block party, an outside event that brought together college and university leadership, faculty from across the university, students, staff and industry partners to meet our neighbors. Next, we held a community forum for PSI internal faculty and staff where we focused on understanding our teams and helping orient PSI researchers to the new space. We also coordinated a partners breakfast that stirred conversations about future collaborations in the building since SAS, Novozymes, Bayer and BASF will occupy space here soon.
These events are the first of many get-togethers that will solidify our research teams into one scientific community under one roof. We hope you continue following our journey as we advance and innovate for North Carolina, the nation and the world.
Adrian Percy
Executive Director
N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative
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