Plants in Space

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

6:00 – 7:30 p.m. | Online

Our lives on Earth are totally dependent on plants. As people start making plans for long-distance space travel, there is a critical need for technology that can bring life-sustaining plants along on the journey. Join Dr. Carl Lewis, Director of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and principal investigator on several NASA grants awarded to Fairchild, as he discusses current space gardening technology and the research now underway to make it better.

About the Speaker

Dr. Carl Lewis is Director of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, a position he has held since 2008. He received a Ph.D. in Systematic Botany from Cornell University in 2001 and a bachelor’s degree in Botany from Connecticut College in 1995. With a research specialization in systematics and evolution, Dr. Lewis has conducted field research in tropical regions worldwide.

He expanded Fairchild’s public outreach with the addition of major citizen science initiatives including the Million Orchid Project and Growing Beyond Earth. Dr. Lewis is the principal investigator on several NASA grants awarded to Fairchild.

A person in a white shirt poses for a photo in a brightly lit laboratory environment