Stephen P. Long

Stephen Long FRShttps://esec.illinois.edu/directory/profile/annlong
Born	Stephen Patrick Long (1950-08-13)13 August 1950 London, England
Other names	Steve Long
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	University of Reading(BSc) University of Leeds(PhD) University of Lancaster(D.Sc.)
Spouse	Ann Long
Children	2
Awards	Member of the National Academy of Sciences(2019)
Scientific career
Fields	Plant science Plant physiology Photosynthesis
Institutions	University of Illinois Lancaster University University of Oxford
Thesis	C4 photosynthesis in cool temperate climates, with reference to Spartina townsendii (S.L.) in Britain(1976)
Doctoral advisor	Dr. H.W. Woolhouse
Doctoral students	Lisa Ainsworth
Website	http://lab.igb.illinois.edu/

Stephen Patrick Long(born 13 August 1950)FRSis a British-born American environmentalplant physiologistand member of theNational Academy of Sciencesstudying how to improvephotosynthesisto increase the yield of food and biofuel crops.He is the Stanley O. Ikenberry Chair Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at theUniversity of Illinoisand visiting professor in Plant Sciences atLancaster Universityand at Oxford University, UK. His work, published inScience,proved that photosynthesis can be manipulated to increase plant productivity—an idea once considered the holy grail of plant biology.Long has added to our understanding of the long-term impacts ofclimate change,such as rising levels ofcarbon dioxideandozoneon plants. He has briefed former PresidentGeorge W. Bushand theVatican,as well asBill GatesandAnne, Princess Royal,onfood securityand bioenergy.

Early life and education

Long was born and raised in London, England. His high school biology teacher inspired him to study plants—and famines in the 1960s encouraged him to find avenues to increase agricultural productivity.Long earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural botany from Reading University in 1972 and went on to earn a doctorate in plant environmental physiology from Leeds University in 1976. In 2007,Lancaster Universityhonored Long's environmental research contributions with a doctorate of environmental sciencehonoris causa.

Career and research

Long joined the faculty as a lecturer at theUniversity of Essexin 1975 and went on to become a senior lecturer (1987) and reader (1988); he obtained full professorship in 1990. In 1999, he moved to theUniversity of Illinoisand was named the Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology and of Crop Sciences (1999–2008). Over his career, Long has worked atTate & LyleLtd. Research Centre, theSmithsonian Institution(1989), theUniversity of Vienna(1989–1990), andBrookhaven National Laboratory(1992–1999). In 2007, as the founding deputy director, Long helped launch theEnergy Biosciences Institute(EBI), a 10-year, $500 million research project that was then the largest public-private partnership between theUniversity of Californiaat Berkeley,University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,and the energy companyBP.In 2008, he was named the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Endowed University Professor of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology. From 2010 to 2016, he also served as a Special U.S. Government Employee (SGE) advising for the biomass programs for theUnited States Department of EnergyandUnited States Department of Agriculture.

In 2012, Long stepped down from leading the EBI to directRealizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency(RIPE),a $25-million-dollar research project funded by theBill & Melinda Gates Foundationto engineer plants to photosynthesize more efficiently in order to sustainably increase worldwide food productivity. In 2017, the RIPE project received a $45 million reinvestment from the Gates Foundation, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the UK Department for International Development.Long has also served as the director of twoARPA-E-funded projects: Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS), 2013–2018and Transportation Energy Resource from Renewable Agriculture – Mobile Energy-Crop Phenotyping Platform (TERRA-MEPP), 2015–2019.He has also served as the deputy director of a thirdARPA-E-funded project, Water Efficient Sorghum Technologies (WEST), 2016–2019.In 2013, he was "selected from the faculty on the basis of their outstanding scholarship" and appointed as a Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) Professor at Illinois.In 2014, he joined the faculty of theCarl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology,an interdisciplinary life sciences research institute at Illinois. In 2016, he became the Distinguished Professor in Crop Sciences FRS atLancaster University.From 2017 to 2018, he served as the Newton Abraham Visiting Professor of Oxford University.In 2018, he was amongst four Illinois faculty members selected for anIkenberryEndowed Chair that is "deemed to be among the most distinguished honors on the campus".In 2019, he was elected to theNational Academy of Sciences.

In addition, Long is the founding and chief editor ofGlobal Change Biology.He also foundedGCB Bioenergy,the most highly cited bioenergy journal and second most highly cited agronomy journal. In 2018, he launched a new journalin silico Plants(isP) through the Oxford University Press that will publish cross-disciplinary research at the interface between plant biology, mathematics and computer science.

He is a member of the Editorial Board forPNAS.

Long is the author of more than 400 scientific publications, including more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in journals such asNatureandScience.Of particular note, he discovered the most productive land plant knownEchinochloa polystachya) and identifiedMiscanthusas a productive temperate plant, transforming it into a viable bioenergy crop in Europe and North America.He also developed the "first dynamic model of the complete photosynthetic process."Recent work by Long has centered on how to engineer plants to photosynthesize more efficiently to increase yields of food and bioenergy crops. Long was instrumental in the development of SoyFACE, the largest open-air laboratory in the word to evaluate the impact of future climatic conditions on crops.In 2016, he proved that yield could be increased by computer-designed engineering; the results were published inScience,covered by the New York Times,and named one of the top scientific moments of 2016 by the Guardian.Recently, Long led the team that engineered a crop that needs 25 percent less water—without compromising yield—by altering the expression of one gene that is found in all plants, as reported inNature Communications.

Awards and honors

In 1972, Long received the University of Prize from theUniversity of Reading.From 1972 to 1975, he served as a University Scholar at theUniversity of Leeds.He is a recipient of the Andrew Mellon Foundation personal award (1998-2003) and the McNair Movement Award (2005). He has been recognized by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) as a highly cited researcher in the field of plant and animal science every year since 2005. In 2007, theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Scienceelected Long as a fellow. He was also chosen to be the G.E. Blackman Lecturer at theUniversity of Oxfordand the Porter Alliance Lecturer atImperial College Londonin 2007. In 2008, he was named the Heilborn Lecturer atNorthwestern University;the CMI Lecturer atPrinceton University;the Industry Summer School Lecturer atMassachusetts Institute of Technology;the 9th Annual Woolhouse Lecturer for theSociety for Experimental Biology;and Holden Botany Lecturer atSutton Bonington Campusin 2008. In 2009, he was named a Fellow of theAmerican Society of Plant Biologists.In 2010, he served as the BEGC Lecturer atHarvard University.In 2012, he served as an Invited Expert on Food Security for the President's Council of Advisors on Science Technology (PCAST). In 2012, he was also honored with the Charles F. Kettering Award for Excellence in Photosynthesis Research from theAmerican Society of Plant Biologistsand the Marsh Award for Climate Change Research from theBritish Ecological Society.Also in 2012, he became an Elected Fellow ofRothamsted Research,appointed to advise the director of the world's oldest agricultural experimental research station. In 2013, he served as the CeBiTec Annual Distinguished Lecturer at the Centrum für Biotechnologie and the 4th Annual Riley Memorial Lecturer for theWorld Food PrizeandAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science.He also received the Innovation Award from the International Society for Photosynthesis Research. In 2013, Long was elected aFellow of the Royal Society(FRS), the oldest continually operating society that honors leading scientists and engineers. In 2016, he became an Elected Fellow of Lincoln College at theUniversity of Oxford.Long has also been named as one of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds" by Thomson Reuters.