Charles Pignon

Dr. Charles Pignon obtained a PhD and MS in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a degree in Agricultural Sciences & Engineering from the Ecole d’Ingénieurs de Purpan. He is currently a postdoctoral research associate in the Leakey lab, UIUC. His objectives are the development of crops which are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable and improve living conditions of subsistence farmers. This has specifically involved deploying crop improvements aimed at food and bioenergy production, and improving crop water-use efficiency to produce more "crop per drop" and alleviate drought stress. With a background in leaf photosynthetic physiology, Dr. Pignon’s research is now specialized in the synchronization of leaf photosynthesis with stomata under dynamic light environments, in order to improve water-use efficiency and carbon assimilation. This has involved using a combination of high-throughput phenotyping and GWAS to derive novel strategies for the improvement of plant performance.