Dr Chris Montes

Chris Montes is a Research Plant Physiologist with the USDA-ARS Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit in Urbana, IL, USA. His research aims to advance molecular and physiological understanding of crop responses to elevated CO₂ and ozone pollution. He does this by identifying potential targets for future breeding programs and promoting the use of FACE technology as a method for phenotyping large plant populations and mapping plant responses to these different abiotic stresses.

Chris is applying his previous experience working in FACE technologies to assist LC3M researchers at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment (iSEE), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. At SoyFACE, researchers augment the concentration of CO₂ to simulate future climate projections. The addition of basalt in these futuristic climate scenarios provides a unique opportunity to test if increased CO₂ concentrations will drive different rates of CO₂ capture by enhanced rock weathering.