Nicholas Ferrari was a graduate student at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. His research interests lie in identifying alternate roles of photorespiration for cell signaling and metabolism. For the RIPE project, Ferrari focused on preserving the functionality of native photorespiratory pathways in more efficient alternate photorespiratory systems. He earned his bachelor's degree in biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, later going on to do research with Dr. Paul South at the School of Biological Sciences. He hopes to apply tools from synthetic biology to improve crop yields in Louisiana.