Elena Pelech is a postdoctoral research associate working for RIPE in Steve Long's lab at the University of Illinois. Elena's research focuses on exploring both ecological and technological methods to increase plant productivity on a land area basis. For RIPE, Elena will be working on evaluating the natural variation of mesophyll conductance during induction and relaxation of photosynthesis in crop leaves using isotopic discrimination. Elena earned her bachelor's degree in genetics from the University of Essex and she later went on to earn her doctorate in plant physiology from the University of Illinois. Her PhD project's work was focused on plant growth and architecture using both field experiments and three-dimensional model simulations to elucidate the ecophysiological complexities of intercropping systems to improve ecosystem services.