Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Materials for Agriculture Resource Imaging Analytics at High Resolution (MARIAH)

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The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.A rising global demand for food amidst increasing drought, extreme temperatures, and pest damage is straining precious land, water, and energy resources. The Planning Grant for the proposed Engineering Research Center for Materials for Agricultural Resource Imaging Analytics at High Resolution (MARIAH) will engage experts in agriculture and other sciences, engineering, and management in developing innovative approaches to increase crop yields while reducing insecticide, herbicide, and fertilizer use. Talented people from diverse disciplines, perspectives, and backgrounds will come together using novel approaches to networking and entrepreneurship to catalyze bold new innovations that will sustainably increase agricultural productivity while preserving natural resources. Innovative materials, devices, and methods that enhance our understanding of plant resilience to stress will be pursued to identify better crop varieties and crop management strategies. Award-winning approaches to mentoring, entrepreneurship, and team building will train tomorrow's leaders in data-driven, sustainable agriculture. Our goal is 'partnering to nourish a healthier world.' A rising global demand for food amidst increasing drought, extreme temperatures and pest damage is straining precious land, water, and energy resources. The Planning Grant for the proposed Engineering Research Center for Materials for Agricultural Resource Imaging Analytics at High Resolution (MARIAH) will engage experts in agriculture and other sciences, engineering, and management in developing innovative approaches to increase crop yields while reducing insecticide, herbicide, and fertilizer use. A series of conferences, workshops and contests will be held in conjunction with meetings of professional societies to identify (i) new materials to examine stress tolerance in individual plants (e.g., nanoscale antennas); (ii) novel devices to image crop phenotypes and environment (e.g., detectors based on II-VI and IV-alloy semiconductors and quantum dots); and (iii) advanced high throughput plant phenotyping systems and data analytics to mitigate effects of drought, extreme temperature and pest damage (e.g., drone-acquired ultra-high spatial resolution multispectral imagery). Novel, high-resolution sensing/imaging platforms will be integrated with autonomous collection and advanced data analytics to rationally select crop varieties and crop management strategies that increase crop resilience to stress, improve food and water quality, and decrease energy usage and nutrient pollution. Acclaimed methods for innovation, mentoring, and communications will attract participants from diverse backgrounds and disciplines and train next-generation leaders in data-driven sustainable agriculture. By identifying bold new approaches to increase crop yield and sustainably use land, water, and energy resources while preparing tomorrow's workforce, we will advance the U.S. agriculture economy. Our goal is 'partnering to nourish a healthier world.'This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.