Katherine Meacham-Hensold is RIPE's Scientific Project Manager. She leads the coordination of RIPE’s field trials and plant transformation activities, manages the compilation of regular research updates, and serves as a liaison between RIPE and Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations, in addition to conducting her own research, which seeks to resolve bottlenecks in photosynthesis to improve the process and increase crop yields. Specifically, she is developing measurement techniques for key photosynthetic parameters to allow comparison of mechanisms, including photosynthetic electron transport and the operation efficiency of Rubisco. She graduated with honors and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from the Royal Agricultural University in the United Kingdom. She went on to earn her doctorate in plant sciences from the Australian National University and the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre in Canberra, Australia.