Young Cho was a postdoctoral researcher in the Ainsworth Lab at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on how small RNA is expressed and regulated in plant tissue, including the development stage and pattern specific manners so that it can be used more precisely as a tool to change plant traits. For the RIPE project, he will be evaluating small RNA as a delicate gene regulation tool for optimizing plant canopies. Young earned his bachelor's degree in biotechnology from Yonsei University in Korea and received his master's degree in crop sciences from Illinois. He went on to earn his doctorate in crop sciences from Illinois. His work is published in many peer-reviewed journals, including Plant Cell, Plant Physiology and Plos One.