Diwakar Shukla, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has received a five-year, $1.75 million Pivot Research Award from Simons Foundation International to develop a transformative, artificial intelligence-enabled approach to crop engineering aimed at making plants more resilient and productive in a changing climate.
In 2022, Shukla received a Pivot Fellowship award from the Simons Foundation to help him pivot his research from computational chemistry to experimental plant biology, with mentoring from the late Stephen P. Long, Ikenberry Endowed Chair Emeritus of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at Illinois. In the research phase of this award, Shukla will be mentored by Plant Biology professor Andrew Leakey in translational crop science to validate engineered plant proteins both in plants and on field.
“I am thankful to my mentors Professor Long and Professor Leakey for their support and guidance,” Shukla said. “It is challenging to pivot to a new field but their mentorship has provided me the platform to not only acquire new skills but also integrate the ideas from two distinct fields.”