Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA, USDA’s extramural research arm) visited Georgia Tech’s campus on June 20 to meet and discuss Georgia Tech’s expertise and research with implications on the needs of farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers.

Ramaswamy kicked off his visit with a seminar for students and faculty: “Setting the Table for a Hotter, Flatter, More Crowded Earth.” He described the research outlook for the USDA and how Georgia Tech researchers are uniquely poised to tackle grand challenges like feeding a growing population in light of dwindling resources such as land and water. This and other major challenges will require multi-faceted approaches and expertise ranging from engineering and cybersecurity to social sciences. His presentation is available here.

Ramaswamy toured Georgia Tech’s Agricultural Technology Research Program and met with EVP for Research Stephen Cross. The visit closed with a multidisciplinary research roundtable, including bioenergy researcher and professor Art Ragauskas (School of Chemistry and Biochemistry); sphingolipid researcher and professor Al Merrill (School of Biology); and aquaponics researcher Steven Van Ginkel (School of Civil and Environmental Engineering).