Ongoing Research

Living Solar Panels: We are developing a novel method for extracting electricity from living prickly-pear cacti. The phenomenon is based on the amounts of charged malic acid decarboxylation that occurs on sunny vs. shaded cactus stems at different times of the day A prototype is under development at the UC Center for Agroecology here at UC Santa Cruz. For more information, see the Instagram page @livingsolarpanels.

Li-Fi enabled IoT Sensor and Control Systems: We are collaborating with colleagues in engineering at UC Santa Cruz, and in Australia and Spain, to make greenhouses more sustainable. Our goal is to use less electricity, water, fertilizer and labor to grow accessible, healthy food. Our approach is to use LiFi as a communications, power, and backscatter data retrieval system for measuring air temperature, light, humidity, air movement and other conditions within greenhouses that then allow feedback control on vents, fans, lights and so on.

TrackDrone: we are developing an indoor, track-based drone for measurement and monitoring the health, stress levels, and growth of plants in greenhouses and other controlled food production systems. Four different payloads can monitor plant health, check for irrigation needs, and kill pests and pathogens. Contact me for more information on this exciting work!