Global Crop Data for Food Security and Climate Resilience
Abstract: Builds research infrastructure for climate resilience in developing countries, leveraging BenYishay's established $4.7M+ track record in development economics and geospatial analysis. The project addresses gaps in how climate adaptation interventions are designed and evaluated, targeting Gates Foundation, USAID, and CGIAR funding pathways.
Team Needs:
- Strategic partnerships and funding strategist. We need someone with strong connections across development agencies, foundations, and multilateral organizations who can help us position our work, identify the right entry points, and support outreach for proposals and partnerships.
- Product dissemination and uptake specialist. We build crop data products intended for use by practitioners, and we need experience scaling data products and connecting with implementing organizations to make sure what we build is accessible and usable.
Agriculture in Transition: Plastic Mulching and Taro Farming in Central Eastern Polynesia
Abstract: Investigates how plastic mulching practices affect microplastic contamination in taro, a staple food crop across the Pacific Islands. Building on five years of collaboration with indigenous farmers in Rurutu (French Polynesia), the project compares microplastic accumulation across taro cultivars and farming practices, expands fieldwork to Rarotonga (Cook Islands), and documents taro genetic diversity through combined genomic and indigenous folk taxonomy. The team brings together archaeological, biological, and ecological methods with strong community partnerships. Targets USDA NIFA.
Team Needs:
- Scaling and dissemination strategist for applied research. We are moving from pilot research toward broader impact, and we need guidance on positioning our work in the right academic and media outlets and connecting to larger networks.
- Funder or program officer in agricultural development, food security, or climate adaptation. Our work sits at the intersection of food security, smallholder transitions to commercial farming, and climate-driven shifts in cropping systems, and we need help finding the right funding ecosystem for applied research with this profile.
- Knowledge of U.S. domestic agricultural opportunities. Part of expanding may be to address local questions regarding microplastics in food production. Are there opportunities to partner locally (state or region)?
Assessing and Mitigating Nonproliferation Risk in the Fusion Renaissance
Abstract: Bridges national security policy and nuclear energy by pairing a government scholar with expertise in intelligence analysis with a fusion scientist holding an NSF CAREER award. The project examines the policy dimensions of emerging fusion energy technology, including its implications for energy security, nonproliferation, and great-power competition. Targets DOD Minerva and State Department research partnerships.
Team Needs:
- International safeguards or nuclear regulatory practitioner. Our project develops a framework for managing nonproliferation risks as commercial fusion advances, and we need someone with hands-on experience inside the IAEA, a state safeguards authority, or the NRC to test the framework against the operational realities of verification and regulation.
- Foundation program officer in nuclear security. We need help surfacing funding opportunities, sharpening our pitch for upcoming consortium rounds, and opening philanthropic networks beyond our current ones.
An Interdisciplinary Discovery Engine for ML-Enabled Characterization of Antibiotic-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Abstract: Addresses antibiotic-resistant infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, by studying the communication process that imparts virulence. The project utilizes analytical and machine learning methods to identify molecular signatures from hyper-virulent strains of this harmful bacterium. By building a research infrastructure capable of engaging clinical, industry, and public health partners this work will address antibiotic resistance as a global challenge and have direct implications for health equity.
Team Needs:
- Clinical or translational researcher in infectious disease. We currently work with laboratory models, and we need help identifying appropriate patient populations and sample types as we transition to clinically derived samples and pursue funding that requires clinical isolates.
- Public health or health disparities expert. We need to strengthen how we frame the work for equitable impact and identify funding opportunities aligned with health disparities priorities.
- Academic researcher experienced in academic-clinical partnerships. We need advice on the practical mechanics of partnering with hospitals or clinics, including IRB considerations, data sharing agreements, and aligning timelines and expectations across institutions.
- Industry advisor in biotech, diagnostics, or AI-enabled health tools. We need insight into scalability, regulatory considerations, and what it would take to move this work toward real-world implementation.
- Academic AI/ML researcher with chemical or omics data experience. We are developing models on complex biological datasets, and we need guidance on building robust, interpretable models and ensuring validation and reproducibility.
Building Resilient TB Care Systems: Understanding and Addressing Missed Opportunities
Abstract: Models tuberculosis transmission dynamics among nomadic pastoralist populations in East Africa. Current TB cascade models assume stationary populations; this project develops a mobility-sensitive framework to respond to the on-the-ground realities of TB care in Kenya. The study responds to three critical gaps along the TB care pathway: the lack of subnational care cascade analyses; the mobility-blind assumptions embedded in standard cascade models; and the limited understanding of outcomes when patients move mid-treatment. Findings will be co-interpreted with Community Health Partners–Kenya and county TB leadership, translated into a concise recommendations brief that aligns with county planning cycles to facilitate prompt uptake. Targets NIH R34, Gates Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation and Fogarty International Center funding.
Team Needs:
- TB clinician or public health specialist with direct Kenya experience. Our team studies TB care delivery in nomadic-majority regions of Kenya but has limited TB-specific clinical and programmatic expertise, which is most consequential when interpreting our findings and shaping recommendations.
- Health data systems or interoperability specialist with Sub-Saharan Africa experience. Our analysis depends on linking national TB program data with laboratory datasets that were not designed to communicate with each other, and we need help navigating gaps in the underlying data infrastructure.
- Mathematical modeler in infectious disease transmission. Our study generates regional data on the TB care cascade, and we need someone who builds compartmental or dynamic transmission models to help us project how targeted interventions would affect transmission and outcomes downstream.
- Climate-health or planetary health researcher focused on disease burden. We are interested in how environmental variability shapes TB access and outcomes in mobile populations, and this expertise would strengthen both our scientific framing and our positioning with climate-aligned funders.
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