Our Leadership

The top level of CABBI decision makers — and how to contact us.

Andrew Leakey: Director

Leakey, a Professor and Department Head of Plant Biology and Professor of Crop Sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is an expert in plant water use efficiency, photosynthesis, respiration and water relations; plant responses in natural and agricultural ecosystems to global environmental change; and adaptation of food and fuel crops to global environmental change, especially drought. His research helps enhance understanding of how the environment impacts ecosystem goods and services and advances efforts to improve and protect crop production and water cycling. His lab performs vertically integrated phenotyping of plant carbon and water relations by combining genetic, molecular, biochemical, physiological and ecological tools to assess plant performance in manipulative field experiments and controlled environment conditions. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield.

His School of Integrative Biology page >>>

His Crop Sciences page >>>

His lab page >>>

Email >>>

A November 2020 Q&A with the new Director >>>

Donald Ort: Deputy Director for Research & Development

Ort is the Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. An expert in photosynthesis and photosynthetic energy transduction, Ort researches improving photosynthetic efficiency, the molecular and biochemical basis of environmental interactions with crop plants, and ecological genomics. He has developed high-throughput imaging chlorophyll fluorescence systems for rapid non-destructive identification of cross progeny and transformants with improved photosynthetic efficiency. He received his Ph.D. in Plant Biochemistry in 1974 from Michigan State University.

His School of Integrative Biology page >>>

His lab page >>>

Email >>>

Matthew Hudson: Chair of the Science Integration Committee (SInC)

Hudson uses supercomputing and DNA sequencing to solve problems in plant, animal, and human genetics. His current research focuses on how crops are bred and on ways to treat and prevent plant, animal, and human diseases. He is particularly interested in the genetics of crop traits and the genetic and molecular interactions of soybeans with pathogens, pests, and other organisms.

His Crop Sciences page >>>

His lab page >>>

Email >>>

CABBI Leadership Chart

Communications Contact

Director Tony Mancuso
Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
1101 W. Peabody, Suite 356 (NSRC)
Urbana, IL 61801
217-300-3546
Email: tmancuso@illinois.edu

Communications Team Members

Specialist Julie Wurth
Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
1101 W. Peabody, Suite 338 (NSRC)
Urbana, IL 61801
Email: jwurth@illinois.edu

Specialist April Wendling
Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
1101 W. Peabody, Suite 338 (NSRC)
Urbana, IL 61801
Email: awendl2@illinois.edu

Media Lab Coordinator Mark Herman
Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
1101 W. Peabody, Suite 351 (NSRC)
Urbana, IL 61801
Email: maherman@illinois.edu

Media Requests

CABBI is home to dozens of experts on agriculture, engineering, genomics, biology, chemistry, economics, general sustainability, and more.

Contact information for our scientists and staff can be found throughout our website. If you’re not sure who you need to talk to, send us an email using the form above (or at cabbi-bio@illinois.edu), and we’ll point you in the right direction.

Get in touch with CABBI

Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB)
1206 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801
MC-195

Phone: 217-244-9038

Email: cabbi-bio@illinois.edu

Visiting CABBI? Check out this handy mass transit map for available bus lines >>>