Research

Our work is challenge-focused and impact-driven.

Solutions Start Here

Just as plants are integral to a wide breadth of our daily lives, from agriculture and climate change to energy and human health, so too must the plant sciences be dynamic and interdisciplinary in order to solve the grand challenges of our time. The plant sciences require the collaborative effort of great minds across all disciplines, approaching applied research through bold curiosity, academic barrier-breaking, multi-sector partnerships and technological innovation.

Increasing yields
Creating new varieties
Extending growing seasons
Enhancing agricultural and environmental sustainability
Producing new and improved technology

Preparing farms to keep pace with a fast-moving future to help ensure a healthier, well-fed world.

3 Research Platforms

The N.C. PSI has five strategic platforms that bridge the gaps between research, education and extension to provide cross-disciplinary support and amplify the impact of plant sciences research toward achieving common goals. Three platforms are research-focused:

Plant Improvement

Data-driven Plant Sciences

Resilient Agricultural Systems

Anna Stepanova and a researcher in a growth chamber

Research Programs

Interdisciplinary research teams address plant improvement, data-driven plant science and resilient agricultural systems.

$Two people work with plants in a rooftop greenhouse\$

Research Facilities

Top-notch research facilities provide a direct competitive advantage for our innovative research.

Enabling next-generation science

Jack Wang and Rodolphe Barrangou in Greenhouse

Research Expertise

Our faculty have diverse and complimentary research expertise to tackle agriculture’s grand challenges.

Explore

Commercialization

We help entrepreneurs get great ideas to market.

Where startups get their start

AI at the N.C. PSI

The N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative is charting a course for the future of agriculture, leveraging artificial intelligence with a three-pronged approach: cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, extension and workforce development.

Explore Our Approach

Man with robotiic device in a field of plans — Weilong He, a graduate student in agricultural engineering, works with robots to help automate the assessment of healthy plant leaves in the field.

Subscribe to the N.C. PSI Monthly Newsletter

Get the latest news from the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative delivered to your inbox each month.

Thriving Together

Connecting the brightest minds in academia, government and industry to drive vital research and innovation.

Explore a Partnership

Man in a farm field, speaking into a microphone and gesturing toward a hemp plant

Turning to Fiber Hemp to Revitalize Agriculture and Textiles

Fiber hemp is a promising industry for North Carolina, but collaboration will be key to overcoming system challenges that could stand in the way. The N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative’s David Suchoff and others at NC State are working to build those partnerships.

Person demonstrates monitoring equipment near a farm canal. The farmer is nearby.

New App To Help Farmers Act Against Flooding

A new web-based app is in the works that will help farmers take action to protect crops, livestock and farm machinery when a storm or flooding event is forecasted.

Accelerating Agtech Solutions

The N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative is a key player in a global technology validation platform designed to accelerate agricultural technology startup companies.

Reid Barnett examines plants growing in a science lab.

Seed2Grow Spotlight: Ph.D. Student Turning Pollution Into Possibility

NC State Ph.D. student Reid Barnett is developing floating islands made of fabric specially designed to grow plants. The plants capture excess nitrogen and phosphorus that can pollute water, so they can be turned into soil amendments and other valuable products.

Student presents on a TEDxNCState stage, with a plant image projected behind her.

NC State Grad Student Takes 3D Printed Plants to Center Stage

Stephanie Stewart, a Ph.D. student in biomathematics, shares fresh perspectives from the frontlines of research to advance 3D bioprinting of plants.

Man holds up three buckets full of ripe strawberries

NC State Wages Multi-Front Fight Against Strawberry Disease

N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative affiliates, NC State Extension specialists and other researchers are working on multiple fronts in the fight against a new disease taking a big bite out of North Carolina’s strawberry producers’ livelihoods.