Many fields of research are seeing changes in how that research is conducted thanks to advances in technology. Plant science is one of those, and NCSA is playing a role in two large projects. Historically, successful trait selection in plant breeding has involved manual measurement of individual plants. This requirement limits the number of plants that can be evaluated, and the scope of properties that can be measured. A new grant from the Department of Energy to researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and multiple partner institutions, including the University of Illinois and NCSA, will fund the development of a system to automate the measurement of plants using cameras and other sensors mounted on drones, tractors, and robots, and analysis of the resulting large data sets to facilitate the development of high-yielding strains of sorghum, a key bioenergy crop. The $8 million grant was one of several awarded by the DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Transportation Energy Resources from Renewable Agriculture (TERRA) program. Todd Mockler, the Geraldine and Robert Virgil Distinguished Investigator at the Danforth Center, is the principal investigator. To read more, please visit http://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/news/story/plants_hpc.