2022 R.N.Robertson Travelling Award recipient
Nattiwong Pankasem is a Ph.D. student in the School of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. Nattiwong grew up on his family farm in the western outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand where he developed interest in plant biology from an early age. He is fascinated by the plant adaptation to cope with the ever-changing environment. As atmospheric CO2 increases and global warming continues, environmental stresses such as heatwaves, water shortages, and high vapor pressure deficit pose a significant challenge to crop production and food security. Nattiwong is interested in how guard cells respond to changing environments. He is working with Dr. Julian Schroeder on finding the molecular sensors and advancing the understanding of guard cell functions using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana with modern genetic tools.