The Princeton Vertical Farming Project
The Princeton Vertical Farming Project (PVFP), located in Moffett Laboratory, was launched by Dr. Paul Gauthier, an associate research scholar in plant physiology and environmental plant metabolism in the geosciences department.
The project is funded by the High Meadows Fellowship through the Office of Sustainability as part of the Campus as Lab initiative.
The Princeton Vertical Farming Team, lead by Paul Gauthier, has been steadily growing since the project’s start in the spring of 2017. The team consists of faculty, students, and members of the Office of Sustainability. Coming from a wide range of academic backgrounds, the students on the team were all drawn to PVFP for different reasons, and continue to expand the potential of the vertical farm as a hub for student research and activity. Meet the team and learn about the many ways students and faculty have gotten involved in the project.
Paul discusses sustainability in his research with the Office of Sustainability. Read the interview »
MEET THE TEAM
Paul Gauthier
I am an Associate Research Scholar in the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University. I obtained my PhD from the University of Paris Sud in plant physiology and plant metabolism. I am broadly interested in the regulation of leaf carbon balance and the relation source-sink in the whole plant from the molecular to the ecosystem scale. In the past few years, my interest for the challenges associated with food security has grown and I see vertical farming as a way to answer a growing demand for healthier and tastier vegetables. The development of this project is an opportunity to answer new questions related to the impact of vertical farms on the environment and find new solutions to make them more affordable and sustainable.
Jesenia Haynes (’18)
My name is Jesenia Haynes and I am in the class of 2018 studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a certificate in Environmental Studies. I enjoy learning about all aspects of biology, but recently I have been focusing more on sustainable agriculture. In the future I hope to work both domestically and internationally to promote sustainable agriculture and ecological conservation.
Rozalie Czesana (’18)
I am a senior at Princeton majoring in the Woodrow Wilson school with certificates in Environmental and Urban Studies. Because of my interest in sustainable development and food, I got involved in the Vertical Farming project right in the initial, planning stages. So far my role has revolved mainly around establishing connections across campus and raising awareness about the project, for example by working with Forbes College and Terrace F. club, where I coordinated a parallel study in the greenhouse. In the near future I am excited about exploring the scalability of the farm, particularly its potential use in nearby food deserts such as Trenton.
Aamir Zainulabadeen (’18)
I am currently a senior in the Computer Science department and I’m working on Princeton’s Vertical Farming Project for my senior thesis. The goal of my project is to develop a software/hardware system that automates certain aspects of the farm – data collection, feedback cycles, and data analysis. I’m mainly interested in this project because sustainable agriculture is a key issue for addressing climate change. The great thing about software is that it may be repeatedly used at low cost, so I hope that my thesis will be useful not only for Princeton’s Vertical Farming Project but also for anyone else interested in sustainable agriculture.
Seth Lovelace (’20)
I am a Sophomore in Princeton’s Mathematics Department, and am from New Orleans, Louisiana. I originally grew up in rural California, and grew up growing fruit on an acre and a half of land. As such, seeing both city life and country life growing up, I’ve always had a strong connection to sustainability. As part of the Vertical farm, I am analyzing nutrient uptake by plants, and how this nutrient uptake changes over time. I hope that this will allow for me to optimize the manner in which we supply nutrients to plants in a vertical farm environment. My background is very quantitative, and I hope to bring a rigorous and methodical perspective to the farm, increasing the quality of food through the components that make them up.
Kyra Gregory (’19)
My name is Kyra Gregory, I’m in the Department of Art & Archeology, Program 2 with a certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies. I work for the Office of Sustainability as a Communications Assistant and have always had a passion for environmental science and sustainability. My job for the Vertical Farming Project is to design and manage the website and blog the progress of the farm.
Natalie Grayson (’20)
My name is Natalie Grayson and I am in the class of 2020 planning to study Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a certificate in Environmental Studies. I am newly interested in the field of sustainable agriculture and I think that vertical farms will be playing a larger and larger role in this. I have been managing the day to day aspects of the farm thus far, but I have been planning to begin conducting some additional research at the farm.
Allison Huang ’21
As Farm Manager, I upkeep and monitor the farm’s overall progress, which is really an excuse to watch the plants grow and change in their ‘intuitive’ way. In the future, I hope to conduct research on how fluctuations in pH and nutrient availability translate to a more controlled, artificial environment like the Vertical Farm. I am a first-year student and a prospective Woody Woo major.