MIT PhD students honoured for their work to solve critical issues in water and food

Gokul Sampath and Jie Yun have been named 2023 Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) fellows. Awarded to outstanding PhD students at MIT working on water and food-related challenges, both students were recognised for their 'passion to solve issues of agricultural sustainability and resilience and access to safe water', said J-WAFS executive director, Renee J Robins. A former research associate at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, where he conducted randomised control trials in India, Gokul's research focused on strategies to address the arsenic crisis in India and Bangladesh. Jie studies plant response to drought stress in the hopes of improving agricultural sustainability and yield under climate change. She is advised by David Des Marais and has collaborated with Caroline Uhler’s group in the department of electrical engineering and computer science to use computational tools to evaluate plant resilience and adaptation.