Kara RiggsKara Riggs, Chair Applied Research and Interdisciplinary Engagement in Hunger Mitigation
Kara is a PhD candidate and Life Sciences Fellow at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the Division of Plant Sciences. Kara holds a BSc in Agriculture from The Ohio State University, where she studied soybean root-pathogen interactions. For her doctoral research Kara designed a divided-chamber model system to characterize the physiological responses of maize nodal roots to water deficit conditions. She is currently studying variations in root hydraulic conductivity that may help maintain root growth under drought. Kara served as founding president of the Interdisciplinary Plant Group Student and Postdoc Organization and is passionate about the opportunities for plant science research to impact global water and food security.