QnAs with Elizabeth Ainsworth

The atmosphere of today will be increasingly different in the coming decades as it continues to respond to human influences. Elizabeth Ainsworth, of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), recently received the 2019 National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences for her efforts to explore how increasing carbon dioxide and ozone affect crucial food crops like soy and corn. As lead investigator of SoyFACE Global Change Research Facility in Urbana, Illinois, Ainsworth runs an open-air laboratory that allows researchers to simulate atmospheric conditions in the year 2050 and beyond. She recently spoke to PNAS about her prize-winning research.

PNAS:Have you always been interested in science and agriculture?

Ainsworth:I discovered plant biology and ecology at UCLA [University of California, Los Angeles] and spent 2 semesters doing fieldwork abroad. In Thailand, I measured photosynthesis for the first time. That was exciting, and my first introduction to a process that I continue to study.

My interest in agriculture goes back even further. I grew up in a small town in Illinois and come from generations of farmers and corn breeders. My first job …