Nikhil Jaikumar

Nikhil Jaikumar is a postdoctoral research associate at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois. For the WEST project, he is working to improve the crop canopy by modifying the angle of the leaves. Nikhil received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Harvard University, and went on to earn his doctorate from Michigan State University. Following his graduation, Nikhil worked for the United States Peace Corps. Along with WEST, Nikhil is a member of another ARPA-E funded project called Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS). Nikhil’s research for PETROSS focuses on improving the photosynthetic rates in sugarcane and sorghum.