DRY BEANS ARE AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF PLANT-BASED PROTEIN AND MICRONUTRIENTS. HISTORICALLY, THEY HAVE BEEN BRED FOR AN UPRIGHT ARCHITECTURE WHICH ALLOWS FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT HARVESTING. WE NOW KNOW THAT IN MANY SPECIES, THE COMPONENTS OF SHOOT DEVELOPMENT OVERLAP WITH ROOT DEVELOPMENT. WITH THE PREDICTED RISE IN ABIOTIC STRESSORS SUCH AS DROUGHT AND TEMPERATURE FROM PENDING CLIMATE CHANGE, ROOT ARCHITECTURE AND SEED NUTRITION CONTENT WILL BE REDUCED. ALTHOUGH RECENT STUDIES SHOW THAT INCREASING SHOOT BIOMASS REDUCES SEED NUTRITION, WE DO NOT YET HAVE EQUIVALENT KNOWLEDGE FOR ROOTS. TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ROOT ARCHITECTURE, THIS POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO CHARACTERIZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DRY BEAN ROOT ARCHITECTURE, SHOOT ARCHITECTURE, AND SEED MINERAL NUTRITION USING A MULTIFACETED APPROACH. THIS PROPOSAL REFLECTS AFRI PRIORITIES RELATED TO SUSTAINABILITY. ROOT SYSTEMS WITH BETTER NUTRIENT ACQUISITION REQUIRE LESS FERTILIZER, ARE MORE RESILIENT, AND HAVE MORE NUTRITIOUS SEEDS AND RESULTS FROM THIS PROJECT WILL FACILITATE BREEDING FOR ROOT ARCHITECTURE IN DRY BEANS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO PROMOTE RESILIENCE AND SEED NUTRITIONAL CONTENT.