CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Lisa Ainsworth has been named Director of the internationally acclaimed Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency project, which is led by the University of Illinois.
"Lisa is pre-eminent in the fields of crop sciences and plant biology, continually leading IGB's research efforts to improve food security through her stalwart leadership and scholarly acumen,” said Gene Robinson, Director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, where RIPE is headquartered. “Under her direction as RIPE Director, we will continue to see the important efforts of this research project thrive."
RIPE is an international research project, led by the University of Illinois, that aims to increase global food production by developing food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently with support from Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One). Ainsworth has been involved with the project since 2018, and a Deputy Director since 2022. She leads the optimizing canopy research for the project.
”RIPE’s approach to research has always been that the best work is done through collaboration and team effort,” said Ainsworth, recently named the Charles Adlai Ewing Endowed Chair of Crop Physiology in the Department of Crop Sciences as well as being a Professor of Plant Biology at Illinois. “Our advancements in modeling, new discoveries in the areas of regulators and germplasm, and advancements in transformation show that our work is moving full steam ahead, and I am honored to lead these efforts.”
In 2019, Ainsworth was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was named the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service’s Distinguished Senior Research Scientist of the Year. In 2020, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2024 she was named an Illinois Center for Advanced Study Professor. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her doctorate in crop sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Ainsworth began her new role last month. The leadership role was open because of the retirements of former Director, Ikenberry Endowed University Chair of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology Steve Long and former Deputy Director, Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences Don Ort. Two of the original founding members of RIPE, both will remain principal investigators on the project. Announced concurrently with Ainsworth’s directorship is the appointment of Elizabete Carmo-Silva as the project’s Deputy Director.
“I am grateful for Steve and Don’s vision and leadership for the last decade. RIPE would not have grown into what it is today without their leadership” said Ainsworth. “Although change brings uncertainties, these are exciting times for the RIPE project. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.”
RIPE is led by the University of Illinois in partnership with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Lancaster University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Cambridge, University of Essex, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.
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