-Magdalen Lindeberg
CALS launched the Transdisciplinary Moonshots in late 2022 to inspire our community to think beyond conventional academic silos and to aim our expertise at our world’s most dire challenges. Sixteen moonshot proposals were submitted that include positions for SIPS.

The following summary lists the titles, originators of the proposal (to the extent I know), and brief summaries of the overarching goal and proposed positions. SIPS positions/potential position and contributors are highlighted. Contact Magdalen Lindeberg (ml16) if you would like an MS Word version of this summary. A glossary of abbreviations is include below the summaries.

Sustainable development and resilience in a changing world

Proactive adaptation planning, creative design, and iterative learning are required to orient CALS science towards problem solving in an uncertain world. This Moonshot envisions the creation of a CALS-wide program (‘AGC’ – Adapting to Global Change) focused on adaptation through the lenses of behavioral, institutional, socio-economic, and ecological change.

• PIs: Andy McDonald (SIPS), Jack Zinda (GDev)
• Co-PIs: Chris Barrett, Miguel Gomez (Dyson); Toni DiTommaso, Rebecca Nelson (SIPS); Mario Herrero, Daniel Mason-D’Croz, Lori Leonard, Ed Mabaya (GDev); Lee Humphreys, Poppy McLeod (Comm)

Positions:

• Social change processes (GDev): will research social change processes (planned or spontaneous) that underpin realized adaptation through the uptake of new practices, management systems, technologies, or models of governance
• Human agency and adaptive responses to systemic change (Dyson): will research behavioral economics and decision research for sustainable development using a range of modeling skills, big data analytical capabilities, econometrics, and multi-scalar simulation modeling
• Establishing priorities and navigating tradeoffs through collective intelligence (Comm): will research how technology can best support interpersonal connection across a wide range of differences and how information can foster collective learning and adaptation, leading to effective coordinated action to meet societal needs
• Landscapes in balance: geospatial science for sustainable land and water management (SIPS): will research sustainable water and land management that incorporates the social and economic contexts for adaptation, using spatial and process-based predictive modeling of coupled natural-human systems
• Designing for sustainable development (GDev): will strengthen the CALS “translational ecosystem” by using evidence-based insights to devise analytical tools and methods that inform development best practice

Plant Resilience for Community Resilience

This moonshot aims to take cutting-edge approaches and collectively integrate molecular- to planetary-level inquiries to discover and innovate for plant health, and to address impacts of threats to plant health on communities.

• Leads: Adam Bogdanove, Katie Gold (SIPS); Jed Sparks (EEB); Tory Hendry, Joe Peters (Micro); Lori Leonard (GDev); John March (BEE)

Positions:

• Plant immunity in a changing climate (SIPS): will advance frontiers in plant immunity with a focus on abiotic stresses, predation, nutrients, microbial communities, and/or agricultural practices
• Drivers and impacts of population-level plant microbial evolution in natural and managed ecosystems (SIPS, Micro, or EEB): will establish predictive principles and knowledge about native or agricultural ecosystems using computational modeling, high-resolution surveillance, experimental evolution, and population genomics
• Engineering resilient agro-ecosystems (BEE, SIPS, or Micro): will use synthetic biology to precisely engineer plants and microorganisms and develop next generation agrochemicals and cropping system management practices for healthy, safe, and resilient agro-ecosystems
• Social impact of plant health interventions (GDev): will conduct research and engage with stakeholder groups to champion plant health knowledge transfer, and support technology adoption across communities, with a particular focus on traditionally underserved groups
• Empowering plant resilience advances driven by big data (SIPS): will generate discoveries in plant-microbe biology and/or agriculturally-centered social science using artificial intelligence and data science to enable enhanced plant and community resilience

Tackling grand challenges in the life and social sciences with artificial intelligence and machine learning

We propose a plan to catalyze the next generation of life and social science breakthroughs in CALS by hiring a cohort of path-breaking experts in machine learning to focus on diverse research questions. This will result in a critical mass of talented investigators at CALS who are harnessing artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive innovation.

• PIs: Chris Fromme (MBG), Haiyuan Yu (Comp Bio)
• Co-PIs: Chris Barrett (Dyson); Adrienne Roeder, Dan Buckley, Gaurav Moghe (SIPS); David Schmoys, Kilian Weinberger (Comp Sci), Tobi Doerr (Micro), Marcus Smolka (MBG), Aleksandr Michuda (IS)

Positions:

• Comp Bio position focus: will collaborate closely with researchers in the biological and social sciences to develop and apply artificial intelligence methods to pressing biological and biomedical questions
• Dyson position focus: will advance our understanding of human behavior and policy and address a range of social challenges in agriculture, economic development, energy, and environmental economics, using data science, econometrics, and big data
• Micro position focus: will explore microbial species interactions, microbiome structure and function, and synthetic microbial communities using artificial intelligence and machine learning
• MBG position focus: will develop and apply machine learning approaches to better understand fundamental areas in MBG such gene regulation, protein structure, cellular organization, signaling, and evolutionary change
• SIPS position focus: will parse structured and unstructured datasets and integrate multiple features of complex systems simultaneously with machine learning and artificial intelligence to predict plant response, gene function, and phenotypes

Biodiversity-powered solutions to a planetary crisis

This moonshot has the goal of curbing biodiversity loss through translational research that leverages Cornell’s Natural History Collections and Natural Area Reserves to build world class field-based research and teaching programs that directly address the biodiversity crisis from local to global scales.

• Committee: Chelsea Specht, Kathie Hodge, Fay-Wei Li, Alejandra Gandolfo Nixon (SIPS); Andy Clark, Philipp Messer (Comp Bio); Irby Lovette, Anurag Agrawal (EEB); Patrick O’Grady, Jason Dombroskie (Ent); Nina Therkildsen, Matt Hare (DNRE); Trent Preszler (Dyson); Warren Allmon (PRI/EAS)

Positions:

• Population biology and the genomic architecture of species success (Comp Bio): will link (i) ecological and evolutionary relationships, (ii) documentation of patterns and processes and (iii) economics of biodiversity to define best practices for sustainable biodiversity prospecting or management of ecosystem services
• Informatics of global biodiversity patterns (SIPS or others): will integrate Cornell’s extensive biodiversity collections with ongoing field collected data to generate data and predictions tied to economic impacts
• Biodiversity Pedagogy: experiential learning incorporating collections & reserves (Entomology): will conduct pedagogy-based research integrating taxonomy and systematics, field work, and experimental organismal biology to address biodiversity loss through novel outreach, extension, and education
• Adaptation to changing environments (DNRE): will address adaptation at population and landscape levels and links with functional genomics, conservation biology, and sustainability science, to build and use natural history collections in an extended specimen framework
• The Economics of Biodiversity (Dyson): will develop tools for assessing the ecological and regulatory impact of economic solutions on the biodiversity crisis

Transformative Biomolecular Technologies

The goal of this moonshot is to hire faculty to develop novel transformative biomolecular technologies, with the intent that host departments will synergize to produce creative and powerful scientific breakthroughs for the benefit of CALS and Cornell

• Committee: Daniel A. Barbash, John Lis, Frank Pugh (MBG); Adam Bogdanove (SIPS); Joe Peters (Micro); Ellie Duan (Animal Sci); Haiyuan Yu (Comp Bio); Lori Leonard (GDev)

Positions:

• Molecular Biology & Genetics position focus: molecular and genetic mechanisms
• Animal Science position focus: animal microbiology and animal gut microbiomes
• Computational Biology position focus: model building and computational algorithm development
• Global Development position focus: how organizational environments and cultures can become seedbeds for innovation
• SIPS position focus: development of transformative tools for all of biology through expanded understanding of plant processes and how they are modulated and manipulated by microbes

CALS Alive! Effective engagement of the broad range of societal stakeholders

CALS Alive! will redefine and reshape “extension and engagement” in a 21st-century framework, in order to strengthen and connect knowledge, vision, and resources developed across CALS so that the moonshots can collectively thrive in a complex social world.

• PI: Joss Rose (SIPS)
• Co-PIs: Dan Barbash (MBG), Norm Porticella (Comm), Rich Stedman (DNRE), Margaret Smith (SIPS), Abby Snyder, Olga Padilla-Zakour (Food Sci)

Positions:

• Transdisciplinary Science/Risk Communication (Comm): will strengthen the knowledge base and range of practices available, to more effectively navigate communication processes and apply innovative solutions within the public sphere
• Plant Science Engagement Innovations for the 21st Century (SIPS): will conduct research, develop analytical tools, and enhance extension capacity in areas related to plant science, digital agriculture, biotechnology and/or climate change impact
• Social-Ecological Synthesis and Communication (DNRE): will apply a strong background in social-ecological systems theory to address the challenges to collaborating and conveying ideas about complexity/complex systems behavior to a broader audience
• Social Barriers to Sustainable Food Systems (Food Sci): will address challenges in communication, outreach, education, and behavior related to public confidence in health and safety guidance, consumer purchasing behavior, and outreach to historically excluded communities
• Communication and Circular Engagement of Foundational Life Science (MBG): will identify obstacles to engagement between academia, the private sector and society in the areas of basic life science research, synthetic biology and biotechnology, and to develop tools and strategies to enhance those interactions

Advancing Controlled Environment Agriculture to Revolutionize Specialty Crops Production in the 21^st Century

This moonshot seeks to help food producers become more agile in the face of climate change and other global challenges.  To achieve this, a faculty cluster is proposed that encompasses plant physiology, engineering, food science, plant pathology, and entomology focused on CEA production systems that will allow CALS and AgriTech to move specialty crop production to a year-round, productive, equitable, and sustainable future.

• PIs: Kyle Wickings (Ent), Sarah Pethybridge (SIPS), Anna Katherine Mansfield (Food Sci)
• Co-PIs: Greg Loeb, Brian Nault, Monique Rivera, Christophe Duplais, John Sanderson (Entomology); Chris Smart, Kerik Cox, Yu Jiang, Neil Mattson, Courtney Weber, Anu Rangarajan (SIPS); Olga Padilla-Zakour (Food Science); Miguel Gomez (Dyson);  Alejandro Calixto (NYS IPM); Judson Reid, Anya Osatuke (CCE)

Positions:

• Insect Ecologist (Ent): will develop integrated pest management solutions for arthropods that attack specialty crops grown in controlled-environment agricultural production systems (high tunnels, greenhouses, indoor vertical farms, and other structures of protected cultivation).
• Plant Pathologist (SIPS): will research diseases that cause specialty crop losses, with a focus on the biology, epidemiology, and management of plant diseases occurring in controlled environment production systems
  
• Plant Physiologist (SIPS): will develop production strategies for specialty crops adapted for controlled environments and use novel methodologies to understand and optimize CEA crop physiology and quality in response to environmental factors
• Agricultural Engineer (SIPS or BEE): will develop high-efficiency, resource-adaptable solutions to the full spectrum of CEA systems for the production of specialty crops through biomaterial science and engineering, advanced and intelligent manufacturing, and robotics
• Food Scientist (Food Sci): will focus on understanding the palatability and marketability of traditional and exotic food varieties and new food technological advancements using nutritional science, economics, sociology and psychology

Microbial Communities in Plant, Animal, Human, and Ecosystem Health

The revolution in host-microbe biology will occur when we are able to understand how whole communities of microbes interact with each other and their multicellular hosts, sharing nutrients, exchanging signals, and conditioning their environments to establish health or dysbiosis of the entire system.

• PI: Brian Lazarro (Ent)
• Co-Pis: Adam Bogdanove, Daniel H. Buckley (SIPS); Xiangtao Xu (EEB)

Positions:

• Host-Microbe Interactions (Micro): will develop an interdisciplinary research program on symbiotic or commensal microbial communities that associate with either animals or plants
• Microbe-Plant Integrative Ecology (SIPS or EEB): will study the molecular foundations and/or physiological pathways of plant-microbe interactions in an ecological context, emphasizing the role that below-ground interactions play in determining above-ground plant traits and broader ecosystem function
• Insect-Symbiont Physiology (Ent): will study the shared metabolism of insects and their symbiotic microbes, including nutrient conversion and bioavailability, physiological consequences of association, and feedback between host and microbe
• Domesticated Animal Microbiomes (Animal Sci): will study how inherited and environmentally acquired microbes establish functional communities within domesticated animals, with consequent impact for animal nutrition, health, and physiology
• Risk Assessment and Health Communication (Comm): will research health and risk communication around microbial associations and disease transmission, potentially including topics such as probiotics, gut dysbiosis, antibiotic usage, and vaccine uptake

Synthetic Biology: Engineered Living Materials Moonshot

We propose a moonshot on development of engineered living materials to achieve reduced dependence on centralized infrastructure, raising the quality of life around the world, and longer term, to replace elements of our civil infrastructure and consumer products with sustainable living materials.

• PI: Adrienne Roeder (SIPS), Tobi Dörr (Micro), Lori Leonard (GDev)
• Co PIs: Meredith Silberstein (Eng); Jaehee Kim (Comp Bio); Laura Gunn, Clare Casteel, Lori Huberman (SIPS); Anthony Hay (Micro); Linda Nicholson (MBG)

Positions:

• Ethics of science and technology (GDev): will work on the ethical, social, and political dimensions of engineered living materials and new technology more generally
• Engineering Plant Systems (SIPS): will engineer plant systems to generate new traits, produce new and improved plant polymers and biosynthetic pathways, and develop biosensensors for detection of environmental signals
  
• Bacterial physiology and synthetic biology (Micro): will exploit the untapped potential of microbial metabolic versatility to understand metabolic flux and environmental sensing circuits, and to manipulate metabolism and sensing mechanisms using synthetic biology
• Plant-microbe synthetic biology, biomaterial construction and re-design (SIPS): will expand the functional capabilities of biomaterials derived from eukaryotes by studying the biology of fungi, bacteria, or viruses associated with plants or soil and/or host responses to these microbes
• Multiscale mechanistic modeling of biosystems (Comp Bio): will study molecular and biophysical processes underlying biomaterials using approaches from diverse fields such as biophysics, genomics, molecular biology, mathematics, and computer science

Transformative Solutions for Food, Climate, and Global Development Through an Integrated Approach to Agroforestry and Forest Management

This moonshot proposes a transdisciplinary approach to forest agriculture in order to expand adoption of food and bioactive production systems that sequester greenhouse gases, foster biodiversity, sustainably manage water resources, and generate socio-economic innovation and opportunity in rural communities.

• PI: Marianne Krasny (DNRE)
• Co-PIs: Aaron Wightman, Tim Fahey, Rich Stedman (DNRE); Jack Zinda (GDev); Margery Daughtrey, Marvin Pritts, Kathie Hodge (SIPS); Gavin Sacks (Food Sci)

Positions:

• Community/regional Sociologist (GDev/DNRE): will develop forest agriculture science principles that account for place-based variation, and assist diverse landowners using community-based research methods to work in multiple systems such as NYS, the Global South, and indigenous communities
• Governance Social Scientist (GDev/DNRE): will examine and identify practical leverage points for strengthening management of forest agriculture systems using a variety of methodologies
• Forest Ecologist (DNRE): will assess change patterns in tree stressor impacts and identify the adaptive capacity of forest agriculture systems to enhance adaptive management of forest agriculture systems
• Forest Pathologist (SIPS): will research microbial deterrents to plant disease in forest agriculture systems, and expand the network of research and extension associates working on specific tree diseases
• Chemistry & Metabolomics of agroforestry food and bioactive resources (Food Sci): will research the discovery, use, and production of natural products from forests and related ecosystems for bioactive and functional food components

Green Cities

Smart greening of cities and enhancement of physical and mental health of all those residing in them will require localized agricultural production to promote food sovereignty, maximize ground space, and greatly reduce transportation-related carbon footprints. This will be accomplished by shrinking supply chains, adapting controlled environment agriculture and other technologies, and reducing the eco-toxicology of urban water and soils.

• PIs: Neil Mattson, Don Rakow (SIPS); Sunny Jung (BEE)
• Co-PIS: Josh Cerra, Jamie Vanucchi (LArch), Jenny Kao-Kniffin, Anu Rangarajan, Rebecca Nelson, Jonathan Russell-Anelli (SIPS), Keith Tidball (DNRE), Judson Reid (Harvest NY)

Positions:

• Urban Plant Ecologist (SIPS): will research the biodiversity of plants and their ecosystem services in urban settings
• Urban Eco-Toxicology of Soils and Water (SIPS): will examine environmental systems and management issues to understand successful climate adaptation, guide land use management, and provide safe and healthy public and private spaces
• Human Benefits of Managed Landscapes (SIPS): will develop outreach programs on the psychological and physiological benefits of engagement with managed urban landscapes and identify novel approaches to assess human benefits from nature.
• Plant-Based Design Approaches to Green Cities (LArch): will investigate the efficacy of plant- and eco-based design strategies and technologies and propose new ways for bringing benefits to cities that work both at a biophysical and socio-cultural level
• Scale-appropriate Digital Green Cities Engineering (BEE): will design, develop, and implement sensor systems to describe interactions between people, animals, and plants resulting in improved urban design

Managing land for agriculture under climate change at the regional scale

Our goal is to identify immediate strategies and pathways through which society can optimize land use for multiple competing objectives including food, carbon storage, and energy as well as biodiversity protection in a rapidly changing climate.

• Leads: Natalie Mahowald (EAS), Ying Sun (SIPS)

Positions:

• Global Development position focus: will characterize and predict anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem processes with an explicit focus on sustainable development goals.
• Dyson position focus: will explore how global market dynamics affect land use decisions across distant locations through detailed modeling of market integration at local, regional, and global scales.
• BEE position focus: will use remote sensing to monitor terrestrial systems and how changes are impacting agricultural and associated systems
• SIPS position focus: will model the physiology of terrestrial plants with a focus on crop plants to achieve breakthroughs in agriculture, terrestrial ecology, and nature-based climate solutions.
• EAS position focus: will characterize the biogeochemistry of agricultural versus natural lands using in situ or remote sensing of emissions, artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, and/or atmospheric transport modeling

Redesigning food systems to achieve true ecological and social sustainability through agroecology

Transitioning to agroecological practices is a key strategy to reverse the unsustainable trajectory of energy-intensive food systems. This Moonshot aims to shift food systems from reliance on synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and exploitative social and environmental relations to systems based on agroecological principles and social equity.

• Steering committee: Laurie Drinkwater, Ginny Moore (SIPS); Rachel Bezner Kerr (GDev)
• Committee members: Toni DiTommaso, Matt Ryan, Rebecca Nelson, Clare Casteel, Yiqi Luo (SIPS); Katja Poveda, Scott McArt (Ent)

Positions:

• Agroecosystem resource use efficiency and resilience (SIPS): will identify opportunities to improve resource use efficiency, use biodiversity to reduce inputs and enhance climate resilience, and develop circular economic systems to optimize nutrient recycling and reduce synthetic fertilizers
• Local/regional market development in circular, sustainable economies (SIPS/GDev): will research alternative market structures that support agroecological farming systems and local and regional rural businesses that provide decent employment
• Political Economic and Social Dimensions of Agroecology (GDev): will research political, economic, and social factors influencing adoption of agroecological redesign by producers, processors, distributors, retailers, and consumers
• Agroecological pest control for ecological and social sustainability (Ent): will improve crop tolerance to biotic and environmental stressors while preserving high and consistent yield through research on plant interactions with pests and beneficial organisms
• Advancing Sustainable Agricultural Systems with Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Statistics (SIPS): will enhance understanding of biosystems and address critical challenges in agrifood security, plant microbe biology, and crop health resilience through application of artificial intelligence and machine learning

Sustainable and Just Energy Transition

Energy and climate are inextricably linked. Fossil fuels have contributed to global warming, whereas renewable energy can help mitigate climate change. This Moonshot will facilitate transdisciplinary research to produce real-world solutions for a sustainable and just energy transition in New York, the nation, and the world.

• Leads: Steve Grodskey (DNRE), Toni DiTommaso (SIPS)

Positions:

• Socioecologist (DNRE): will conduct research on the ecological and social elements of the energy transition in collaboration with rural and indigenous communities in New York and beyond
• Agronomist/Agroecologist (SIPS): will elucidate physical and biotic relationships among solar energy systems and agroecosystems to holistically meet the needs of agricultural communities in New York. Research may also include solar grazing, crop-wind energy interactions, and bioenergy.
• Economist (Dyson): will research more holistic economic frameworks for renewable energy development that account for the environment and its human communities
• Engineer (BEE): will enhance sustainability of renewables by innovations in source material extraction engineering and design of renewable energy facilities
• Renewable Energy Policy and Law (DNRE): will research and develop renewable energy policy, with a focus on environmental justice of the energy transition

Saving Earth – A Program for Restoring Degraded Global Landscapes

An increasing percentage of global landscapes, both terrestrial and aquatic, are so degraded that restoration takes priority over sustainable management. This Moonshot will act as a thinktank – identifying areas where research on restoration is needed, testing both theoretical concepts and implementation strategies, and guiding restoration projects globally.

• PI: Rebecca Schneider (DNRE)

Positions:

• Restoration ecologist (DNRE): will research wildlife or plant community restoration using applied experience in real-world restoration
• Physical hydrologist (BEE): will quantify existing hydrologic conditions, including precipitation, surface and ground waters, and soil moisture, and identify appropriate techniques for their restoration
• Microbiomes in soil restoration (SIPS): will research plant-microbe-soil interactions that govern soil function in native systems to identify strategies for restoring these interactions in aggrading systems
• EEB position focus: will investigate how species and community ecological principles can be used as the foundation for ecosystem restoration
• LArch position focus: will integrate restoration planning and design with long-term management and scientific research to incorporate ecological goals into landscapes where communities live and work

Redesigning 21^st Century Agri-Food Systems to Meet the Sustainability Challenge

This moonshot envisions a transdisciplinary cohort hire based on the premise that sustainable agricultural systems require involvement of social and economic sciences as well as advances in natural science. To achieve sustainability, advances must move beyond productivity gains and fully embrace economic, environmental, and social well-being.

• Lead: Catherine Kling (Dyson)

Positions:

• Nature’s Contributions to People and Environmental Justice (DNRE, Dyson): will research nature’s benefits to people, the impacts of agri-ecological change, and how these benefits could address inequities experienced by indigenous and marginalized populations.
• Agri-environmental Policy, Economics, and International Competitiveness (Dyson): will research agri-environmental policy, with a focus on understanding the impacts and effectiveness of policy interventions in the agricultural sector
• Quantitative Ecosystem Ecologist (DNRE): will research the link between the structure and composition of agricultural landscapes and emergent ecosystem processes to understand how shifts in agricultural land use practices affect the spatial dynamics of these processes
• Agricultural/Environmental Economics and Land Use Modeling for Agricultural Sustainability (Dyson): will research sustainability challenges in the agricultural sector with a focus on drivers of land use change and the impacts of those changes on agricultural sustainability
• Advancing Sustainable Agricultural Systems with Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Statistics (SIPS): will research challenges in plant, crop, and microbe health with computational and statistical approaches applied to a range of biological and financial datasets

Abbreviations:

• Animal Sci: Department of Animal Science
• BEE: Department of Biological & Environmental Engineering
• Comm: Department of Communication
• Comp Bio: Department of Computational Biology
• Comp Sci: Department of Computer Science
• DNRE: Department of Natural Resources & the Environment
• Dyson: Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management
• EEB: Department of Ecology & Environmental Biology
• EAS: Earth & Atmospheric Science
• Ent: Department of Entomology
• Food Sci: Department of Food Science
• GDev: Department of Global Development
• LArch: Department of Landscape Architecture
• MBG: Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics
• NYS IPM: New York State Integrated Pest Management
• SIPS: School of Integrative Plant Science