AAAS Fellows in front of the U.S. Capitol building

NSF AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellows

Biography

Portrait of Dhruv Patel-Tupper, AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow
Credit: Charlotte Geary/NSF

Dr. Dhruv Patel-Tupper
AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow
Division of Innovation and Technology Ecosystems 
Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships
Class of 2024-2026


Dr. Dhruv Patel-Tupper is inspired by the transformative potential biotechnologies offer in addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges. As a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow with the Innovative Genomics Institute and the Realizing Improved Photosynthetic Efficiency project, he used gene editing and synthetic biology tools to improve how efficiently crops photosynthesize in dynamic field conditions. His efforts to improve crop sustainability and climate resilience have been featured by Science Advances, The Plant Cell and Nature Plants, among others. He earned his bachelor's degree in biology at Cornell University in 2016, before going on to earn his doctorate in plant biology at the University of California, Berkeley in 2022.

Patel-Tupper most recently served as an agricultural science advisor within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service, where he supported multilateral policy development at the nexus of agriculture and climate change. There, he worked to mainstream scientific solutions to climate adaptation and mitigation goals through trade policy and international organization. Now, he is working to realize the cross-sector benefits of scientific innovations across the bioeconomy, mitigating their risks and advancing use-inspired solutions for scalable environmental sustainability.