THE SAMUEL ROBERTS NOBLE FOUNDATION WITH LBNL: NEW ROOTS AWARD. CONTROL NUMBER: 1565-1540 TITLE: ''AN INTEGRATED IMAGING AND MODELING TOOLBOX FOR ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT OF ROOT-FOCUSED CROPS AT FIELD SCALES'' THE SAMUEL ROBERTS NOBLE FOUNDATION, INC., ALONG WITH LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY, WILL DEVELOP AN IMAGING-MODELING TOOLBOX FOR ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT OF ROOT-FOCUSED CROPS AT FIELD SCALES. THIS APPROACH IS BASED ON A NOVEL ROOT PHENOTYPING METHOD CALLED TOMOGRAPHIC ELECTRICAL RHIZOSPHERE IMAGING (TERI), WHICH PROVIDES ADVANCED PHENOTYPING OF KEY ROOT AND SOIL TRAITS AT FIELD SCALES BASED ON THE ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE RESPONSE OF ROOTS AND SOIL TO EXTERNAL ELECTRICAL EXCITATIONS. THE PROPOSED METHOD IS IN-SITU AND DYNAMIC, MINIMALLY INVASIVE, HIGH THROUGHPUT, FIELD READY AND MEASURES ROOTS AND SOIL TRAITS SIMULTANEOUSLY. ----------