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About Us

** PLEASE NOTE: P3 is currently reorganizing under each of the six participating graduate major programs. Please contact the major programs for more information on how they plan to continue offering the P3 model of training. **


New methods to increase crop productivity are required to meet anticipated demands for food, feed, fiber, and fuel. Using modern sensors and data analysis techniques, it is now feasible to develop methods to predict plant growth and productivity based on information about their genome and environment. However, doing so requires expertise in plant sciences as well as computational sciences and engineering.

Through the specialization in Predictive Plant Phenomics (P3) Program, we bring together students with diverse backgrounds, including plant sciences, data sciences, and engineering, and provide them with data-enabled science and engineering training. The collaborative spirit required for students to thrive in this unique intellectual environment will be strengthened through the establishment of a community of practice to support collective learning. This specialization anticipates preparing, by the end of the 2019-2020 academic year, forty-eight (48) doctoral students, including twenty-eight (28) NSF NRT funded doctoral students (scholarship recipients), with the understanding and tools to design and construct crops with desired traits that can thrive in a changing environment.

About NSF NRT (scholarship) - No longer accepting applications

The National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) is the Foundation's new traineeship program designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative, and scalable models for STEM graduate education training. The NRT program also seeks to catalyze and advance cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, and prepare STEM graduate students more effectively for multiple research and research-related career paths.The P3 program was awarded an NSF NRT in 2015 to run through the 2020 academic year. P3 NSF NRT scholarships will no longer be available following the 2019-2020 academic year.