Background

Stephen Long a Professor at the University of Illinois working towards improving crop yields and plant productivity by modulating photosynthesis. His research has provided real solutions to improving food security such as modulating photosynthetic factors to improve water use efficiency and plant productivity. Using both computational and experimental approaches Stephen has increased our understanding of how global climate change is affecting plants allowing for informed approaches to increasing crop yield.  His broad expertise ranges from plant molecular biology to in silico crop design and field analyses. His has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, in journals such as Nature and Science with his findings being named one of the top scientific moments of 2016 by the Guardian. He has been internationally recognized by awards such as the Marsh Award for Climate Change Research from the British Ecological Society and the Kettering Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists. He has been named an Ikenberry Endowed University Chair of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society and has been listed by Thomson-Reuters as one of The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds of 2014.