Sruthi Narayanan

Principal Investigator

Dr. Sruthi Narayanan

Sruthi Narayanan is an Associate Professor of crop ecophysiology with 50% research and 50% teaching responsibilities. Narayanan earned her bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Kerala Agricultural University, India in 2007. She earned her master's degree in Agronomy in 2011 and Ph.D. in Agronomy in 2015 from Kansas State University. She joined Clemson University as an Assistant Professor of Crop Ecophysiology in 2015. She is passionate about sustainable agriculture, and has been working on improving resource use efficiencies, maximizing crop yields, and minimizing environmental risk. Growing up in a farming family, she understands the promises and perils of agriculture, which is her motivation to study the interrelationship between climate change and food security, and ways to deal with that threat.

Recent awards

1. North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Teaching Award of Merit, 2023

2. Kansas State University Distinguished Young Alumni Award, 2022

3. Crop Science Society of America Early Career Award, 2021

4. Association of Agricultural Scientists of Indian Origin (AASIO) Outstanding Early Career Scientist award, 2021

5. Clemson University Provost Outstanding Junior Teaching Award, 2021

6. College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences (CAFLS) Junior Teaching Award for Excellence, 2021

Current Lab Members

Jyoti Kakati

Ph.D. student

Kakati is originally from India and is studying soybean emergence and seedling root traits under dry soil conditions. He is utilizing a ‘non-targeted metabolomic’ approach for designing seed treatment chemicals for improving soybean germination under drought conditions. Read more

Publications

1. Rustgi S., Kakati J.P., Narayanan S. 2024. Shaping plant architecture for improved productivity: Strigolactones and beyond. Advances in Agronomy. In press.

2. Kakati J.P., Fallen B., Bridges W.C., Jr., Narayanan S. 2022. Characterization of a soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) population for germination and seedling root traits under water stress. Agronomy. 12:1944.

3. Kakati J.P., Zoon Lwe Z., Narayanan S. 2022. Heat stress during the early flowering stage did not affect seed fatty acid contents in conventional oleic peanut varieties. Peanut Science 49(1)

4. Rustgi S., Kakati J.P., Jones Z.T., Zoong Lwe Z., Narayanan S. 2021. Heat tolerance as a function of membrane lipid remodeling in the major US oilseed crops (soybean and peanut). Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology 30:652-667.

Selected honors

1. ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2023-24 Encompass Fellow

2. Clemson University Graduate Student Government Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant award, 2023

3. Crop Science Society of America Gerald O. Mott Award, 2023

4. Third prize in the C2 Crop Physiology and Metabolism poster presentation competition at the Crop Science Society of America annual meetings, 2022

5. Wade Stackhouse Graduate Fellowship (2021-2022) of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences at Clemson University.

Malarvizhi Sathasivam

Ph.D. student

Sathasivam, who is originally from India, is interested in exploring 'omics' approaches to understand and uncover the mechanisms adapted by plants to varied environmental conditions. Her dissertation research focuses on the identification of molecular markers associated with lipid metabolism that contribute to heat tolerance in soybean. Read more

Selected honors

1. Wade Stackhouse Graduate Fellowship (2023-2024) of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences at Clemson University.

Luvina Madrid

Ph.D. student

Madrid, who is originally from the Philippines, believes in sustainable farming as the future of agriculture. Madrid's project's holistic approach toward sustainability is to determine suitable management practices for cover crop interseeding in organic corn production systems. The multiple ecosytem services it can provide will comprehensively address production and environmental challenges. Read More

Selected honors

1. Third prize in the poster competition at the Southern Cover Crop Conference, February 14-15, 2023

Om Prakash Ghimire

Ph.D. student

Ghimire, who is originally from Nepal, is currently working on identifying the molecular markers associated with root traits that improve water use efficiency in cotton. His research interests include exploring the genetic, physiological, and ecological basis of plant adaptations in different environmental conditions to improve crop performance. Besides research, he is interested in science communication, science policy and advocacy. Connect with him on Twitter-@baizalla. Read More

Publications

1. Ghimire O.P., Spivey W.W., Kuraparthy V., Campbell B.T., Jones M., Thomas J., Bridges W.C., Narayanan S.* 2024. Phenotypic variability in the U.S. upland cotton core set for root traits and water use efficiency at the late reproductive stage. Crop Science. In press.

Selected honors

1. First prize in the C2 Crop Physiology and Metabolism 5-minute rapid oral + poster presentation competition at the Crop Science Society of America annual meetings, 2023

Tursynbek Kaiyrbekov

Ph.D. student

Kaiyrbekov, who is originally from Kazakhstan, is passionate about interdisciplinary research combining molecular biology with plant and soil sciences. His dissertation research focuses on the tolerance mechanisms of peanut and soybean plants to heat and salt stresses at whole-plant and cellular levels.

Shelby Hammond

Master's student

Hammond, who is from Western New York, completed her undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University in December 2021, and started her Master's program at Clemson University in May 2022. Her research focuses on characterizing a soybean Recombinant Inbred Line Population for heat tolerance based on pollen performance. Read More

Lab Alumni

Tahir Sheikh

Visiting Scientist (November 2023 - January 2024)

Dr. Sheikh is a Jr. Scientist (Agronomy) in the Division of Agronomy at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, India.

W. Walker Spivey

Master's (2021-2023)

Walker's research focused on lipid metabolism related to heat tolerance in the peanut.

Current: Ph.D. student in plant breeding, Clemson University

Publications

1. Spivey W.W., Rustgi R., Welti R., Roth M.R., Burow M.D., Bridges Jr. W.C., Narayanan S*. 2023. Lipid Modulation contributes to heat stress adaptation in peanut. Frontiers in Plant Science. 14, 1299371.

2. Ghimire O.P., Spivey W.W., Kuraparthy V., Campbell B.T., Jones M., Thomas J., Bridges W.C., Narayanan S.* 2024. Phenotypic variability in the U.S. upland cotton core set for root traits and water use efficiency at the late reproductive stage. Crop Science. In press.

Selected honors

1. First prize in the C2 Crop Physiology and Metabolism oral presentation competition at the Crop Science Society of America annual meeting, 2023

Ricardo St Aime

Postdoctoral Research Scholar (Sept 2022- Feb 2023)

St Aime's research focused on cover cropping to improve the sustainability and profitability of regional production systems.

Current: Climate-smart Peanut Clemson Cooperative Extension Service associate

Ricardo St Aime

Ph.D. (2019-2022)

Publications

1. St Aime R., Bridges W.C., Jr., Narayanan S.* 2023. Interseeded cover crops did not reduce the performance of silage corn in the sandy loam soils of South Carolina. Agrosystems, Geosciences, and Environment. In Press.

2. St Aime R., Bridges W.C., Jr., Narayanan S. 2023. Single- and multi-species cover crops can reduce weed presence and improve soil health without depleting soil water in the Southeastern clayey soils. Agronomy Journal. 115:242-260

3. St Aime R., Noh E., Bridges W.C., Jr., Narayanan S. 2022. A comparison of drill and broadcast planting methods for biomass production of two legume cover crops. Agronomy. 12:79.

4. St Aime R., Rhodes G., Jones M., Campbell B.T., Narayanan S. 2021. Evaluation of root traits and water use efficiency of different cotton genotypes in the presence or absence of a soil-hardpan. The Crop Journal 9:945-953.

Selected honors

1. Crop Science Society of America Gerald O. Mott Award, 2022

2. Third prize in the poster competition at the CAFLS Graduate Research Symposium, August 18, 2022

3. First prize in the American Society of Agronomy Cover Crop Management Community poster competition, ASA-CSSA-SSSA annual meetings, Salt Lake City, UT, November 7-10, 2021.

Enoch Noh

Masters (2019-2021)

Publications

1. Noh E., Fallen B., Payero J., Narayanan S. 2022. Parsimonious root systems and better root distribution can improve biomass production and yield of soybean. PLOS ONE 17(6): e0270109.

2. St Aime R., Noh E., Bridges W.C., Jr., Narayanan S. 2022. A comparison of drill and broadcast planting methods for biomass production of two legume cover crops. Agronomy. 12:79.

Selected honors

1. First prize for research proposal competition at the ‘Root architecture and Function’ workshop, University of Florida Center for Stress Resilient Agriculture, 2019

Current: Lab technician, Clemson University

Zolian Zoong Lwe

Masters (2017-2020)

Publications

1. Kakati J.P., Zoon Lwe Z., Narayanan S. 2022. Heat stress during the early flowering stage did not affect seed fatty acid contents in conventional oleic peanut varieties. Peanut Science 49(1)

2. Zoong Lwe Z., Sah S., Persaud L., Li J., Gao W., Reddy K.R., Narayanan S. 2021. Alterations in the leaf lipidome of Brassica carinata under high temperature stress. BMC Plant Biology 21:404.

3. Rustgi S., Kakati J.P., Jones Z.T., Zoong Lwe Z., Narayanan S. 2021. Heat tolerance as a function of membrane lipid remodeling in the major US oilseed crops (soybean and peanut). Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology 30:652-667. Invited Review.

4. Zoong Lwe, Z.S., Welti R., Naveed S., Rustgi S., Anco, D., and Narayanan, S. 2020. Heat stress elicits remodeling in the anther lipidome of peanut. Scientific Reports. 10: 22163.

5. Narayanan, S. Zoong Lwe Z.S., Gandhi N., Welti R., Fallen B., Smith J.R., and Rustgi S. 2020. Comparative lipidomic analysis reveals heat stress responses of two soybean genotypes differing in temperature sensitivity. Plants 9(4): 457.

Selected honors

1. First prize in the C2 Crop Physiology and Metabolism 5 minutes Rapid Oral and Poster presentation competition at the Crop Science Society of America annual meeting, 2019.

2. First prize for the ‘Three Minute Thesis’ competition at Clemson University. 2017

Current: Ph.D. student in lipid biochemistry, Kansas State University

Ricardo St Aime

Masters (2016-2019)

Publications

1. St Aime R., Rhodes G., Jones M., Campbell B.T., Narayanan S. 2021. Evaluation of root traits and water use efficiency of different cotton genotypes in the presence or absence of a soil-hardpan. The Crop Journal 9:945-953.

Harrison Fried

Masters (2016-2018)

Publications

1. Fried, H., S. Narayanan, and B. Fallen. 2019. Evaluation of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] genotypes for yield, water use efficiency, and root traits. PLoS ONE. 13(7): e0200463.

2. Fried, H., S. Narayanan, and B. Fallen. 2018. Characterization of a soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) germplasm collection for root traits. PLoS ONE 13(7): e0200463.

Selected honors

1. First prize in the C2 Crop Physiology and Metabolism Oral presentation competition at the Crop Science Society of America annual meetings, 2018

2. Crop Science Society of America Science Policy Committee elected member, 2018.

3. Crop Science Society of America Board of Directors Graduate student representative, 2017.

Current: Industry Professional, Colorado

Undergraduate Research Interns

41. Connor Hilsmier – Spring 2024. Plant and Environmental Sciences major.

40. Lauren Landis - Spring 2024. Environmental and Natural Resources major

39. Lindsey Cummings – Fall 2023, Spring 2024. Animal and Veterinary Science major

38. Olivia Miller- Fall 2023. Microbiology major

37. Grace Nammouz – Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024. Environmental and Natural Resources major

36. Patrick Belk- Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023. Plant and Environmental Sciences major

35. Olivia Cheschi – Summer 2023, Fall 2023. Microbiology major

34. Georgianna Bellinger – Summer 2023. Microbiology major

33. Reiley Cote – Summer 2023. Microbiology major

32. Travis Cooley – Summer 2023. Agribusiness major

31. Isabella Pelt – Summer 2023. Biochemistry major

30 Ashley Terry - Spring 2023. Plant and Environmental Sciences major

29. Audrey Gasque – Spring 2023. Biological Sciences major

28. Xania Johnson - Spring 2023. Plant and Environmental Sciences major

27. Sachaly Rosario Rivera- Fall 2022. Horticulture major

26. Emily Poteat- Fall 2022. Biological Sciences major

25. Austin Macdonald-Shedd- Fall 2022. Genetics major

24. Darby Blanton- Fall 2022. Plant and Environmental Sciences major

23. Daniel Welsh- Fall 2022. Biological Sciences major

22. Michael Cromer - Summer 2022. Agricultural Mechanization and Business major.

21. Sarah Spivey - Summer 2022. Chemistry major.

20. Naomi Higgins - Summer 2022. Biological Sciences major.

19. Taylor Sherer - Summer 2022. Biological Sciences major.

18. Alexandra Ratay- Spring 2022. PES-Agronomy major.

17. Hampton Warner – Spring 2022. Biological Sciences major.

16. Andrew Rabon – Fall 2021. Environmental and Natural Resources major.

15. Victoria Burgess - Summer and Fall 2021. Biochemistry major.

14. Vince Cantrell - Summer 2021 through Spring 2022. Conservation Biology major.

13. Milla Kleyman – Fall 2019. Biological Sciences major.

12. Ashwin Koka - Summer and Fall 2019. Biochemistry major.

11. Andrew Mckamy – Summer 2019. Biological Sciences major.

10. Grace Rhodes - Fall 2018. Biological Sciences major.

9. Jordan Withycomb - Summer 2018. Microbiology major.

8. Zijun Zhou - Spring 2018. Plant and Environmental Sciences major.

7. Tyler Wolter - Spring 2018. Plant and Environmental Sciences major.

6. Kevin Wright - Spring 2018. Plant and Environmental Sciences major.

5. Matthew Savoca - Fall 2017 Biological Sciences major.

4. Lydia Oswald -Spring 2017. Plant and Environmental Sciences major.

3. Charlotte Anne Snook - Spring 2017, Biological Sciences major.

2. Amanda Williams – Fall 2016, Wildlife and Fisheries Biology major.

1. Joy Lydia Randall - Spring & Summer 2016, Plant and Environmental Sciences major.

Incoming Honors Freshman

4. Marianna Holladay - Summer 2021.

3. Nicholas Foehl - Summer 2020 .

2. Pramita Suresh -Summer 2019 .

1. Audrey Jen - Summer 2018 .

High School Students

15. Kendal Turmon - Summer 2023

14. Jefferson Chapman - Summer 2023

13. Alyssa Painter - Summer 2023

12. James Suber - Summer 2023

11. Mary Love - Summer 2022.

10. Isaac McDougald - Summer 2022.

9. Stephanie Grose - Summer 2021.

8. Catherine Hughes - Summer 2021

7. Christopher LeBarron - - Summer 2020

6. Mary Lee - - Summer 2020

5. Elizabeth Middleton - - Summer 2020

4. Kaylex Wilcox - - Summer 2020

3. Anna Tankersley - - Summer 2019

2. Olivia Mullikin - Summer 2019

1. Samantha Larson - Summer 2018