Antonio Facchetti, Yongsheng Chen, and Anju Toor lead the Precision Agriculture in Controlled Environments (PACE) research initiative at the Institute for Matter and Systems (IMS). Facchetti is a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. Anju is an assistant professor in the same school. Chen is a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

In this Q&A, they discuss their research focus, its connection to IMS’s priorities, and the national impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?

Our team expertise lies at the intersection of organic synthesis of opto-electronic materials, unconventional materials and device processing by printing, environmental engineering, sustainable resource recovery, and systems-level innovation for the food-energy-water nexus. We focus on using alternative energy sources and unconventional devices for wastewater reuse, nutrient recovery, water quality monitoring, and integrating modeling with machine learning to design new sensor technologies and resilient controlled environment agriculture systems.

Our interest began during early academic training, when we recognized how needs for alternative energy sources, new approaches to fabricate opto-electronic devices with reduce energy and waste, water scarcity, pollution, and climate change were deeply linked to human health and sustainability. This curiosity evolved into a passion for developing convergent, scalable solutions to global challenges through bridging disciplines, mentoring future engineers, and advancing technologies with real-world impact.

What questions or challenges sparked your current research?

Conventional agricultural practices lead to environmental degradation, such as water waste, nutrient runoff, and soil depletion, while failing to meet the demands of a growing global population in a climate-constrained world. As researchers, we are grappling with questions like: How can we achieve precision agriculture to deliver the exact amount of resources needed by a plant at a specific time, thereby maximizing efficiency and minimizing waste? Another key challenge is understanding the complex interactions between light quality, water availability, and nutrient uptake.  This leads to questions about how to engineer plants with enhanced resilience or create closed-loop systems that recycle resources and reduce external inputs. Ultimately, the central challenge is to transition from an unsustainable, resource-intensive model to a holistic, data-driven approach that optimizes plant health and yield while simultaneously restoring soil health and minimizing environmental impact.

Matter and systems refer to the transformational technological and societal systems that arise from the convergence of innovative materials, devices, and processes. Why is your initiative important to the development of the IMS research strategy?

We envision a new era of plant growth control characterized by the dynamic management of light and nutrient delivery for low-impact food crop and decorative cultivation. The need to optimize plant growth with minimal resource use presents an interesting challenge that requires an integrated solution relying on multidisciplinary collaborations from researchers across various fields including materials design, sensor technologies, and plant science.

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct?

Farming in controlled environments, such as greenhouse farming, offers promising advantages, including increased crop yields, year-round production in non-native climates, and reduced water use, fertilizer runoff, and eutrophication. However, it also presents challenges, notably higher energy consumption compared to conventional farming, the need for precisely balanced fertilization, and greater susceptibility to pest spread. With PACE, we propose a new approach to indoor farming that addresses these challenges by dynamically managing light and nutrient delivery. In this system, plant health and growth are continuously monitored, allowing real-time adjustments to lighting and soil conditions for optimal performance. By enabling resource-efficient food production that's independent of climate and geography, with PACE, we aim to address issues of global food security and food sovereignty. Furthermore, these practices can drastically cut down on environmental degradation.

What are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with the Institute for Matter and Systems research?

We plan to run a monthly lunch series, bringing together a diverse section of our campus to talk about how research groups working in the areas of sensors, plant science, and agriculture can collaborate.