Donald Ort is the Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois where he leads groundbreaking research on uncovering the underlying causes for photosynthetic inefficiency. His team is working to fix this complicated process to help increase crop productivity despite changing atmospheric conditions.
The Ort Lab is supported by many public and private partnerships, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, the UK Government's Department for International Development, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.