**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** ABIOTIC STRESSES SEVERELY LIMIT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY. OFTEN APPROACHES TO UNDERSTAND STRESS RESPONSE MISS THE CONNECTEDNESS OF COMPLEX BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS. THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO FURTHER OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ABIOTIC STRESS RESPONSE DYNAMICS BY INTEGRATING PHENOTYPING, IONOMICS, AND TRANSCRIPTOMICS DATA TOGETHER IN MAIZE. WE HYPOTHESIZE A FULLER UNDERSTANDING OF STRESS RESPONSES WILL BE ACHIEVED BY RESEARCHING ACROSS DIFFERENT ABIOTIC STRESSES USING LARGE MULTI- OMIC DATASETS (PHENOMIC, IONOMIC, TRANSCRIPTOMIC). THIS PROJECT HAS THREE MAIN OBJECTIVES: 1) DETERMINE THE HERITABILITY OF HYPERSPECTRAL SIGNATURES AND MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS UNDER RELATED STRESS ENVIRONMENTS TO TEST IF THESE PHENOTYPIC TRAITS ARE INDEED HERITABLE AS WOULD BE NECESSARY FOR BREEDING PURPOSES; 2) INTEGRATE HIGH-INFORMATION PHENOTYPING, IONOMICS, AND GLOBAL GENE EXPRESSION DATA TO UNDERSTAND PHYSIOLOGICAL, MORPHOLOGICAL, ELEMENTAL, AND TRANSCRIPTOMIC RESPONSE OF STRESS ACROSS SEEDLING DEVELOPMENT HOLISTICALLY; AND 3) DEVELOP AND TEST PREDICTIVE MODELS FOR STRESS RESPONSE FROM KERNEL TO SEEDLING. THIS OBJECTIVE WILL MODEL KERNEL TRAIT INFORMATION TO PREDICT STRESS RESPONSES IN SEEDLINGS. RESEARCHING PLANT STRESS RESPONSE DYNAMICS ACROSS SCALES WILL ALLOWING MODELING OF STRESS RESPONSE BEHAVIOR AND TOWARDS PREDICTIONS AT DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES, WHICH WILL HELP TO INCREASE BREEDING GAINS MUCH LIKE SELECTIONS BASED ON GENOTYPES. THROUGH THIS COLLECTIVE PROJECT, WE WILL BE LINKING MULTIPLE LARGE DATASETS TOGETHER TO IMPROVE CROP PRODUCTIVITY UNDER CHANGING GROWING CONDITIONS. THIS PROJECT WILL PRODUCE SEVERAL OUTPUTS INCLUDING, WELL-ANNOTATED PUBLIC DATASETS AND PHENOMICS TOOLS BENEFICIAL TO THE MAIZE, PHENOMICS, AND AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITIES. IT WILL FURTHER OUR UNDERSTANDING OF PLANT RESPONSE DYNAMICS ACROSS SCALES AND MODEL STRESS RESPONSE BEHAVIOR, WHICH WILL ENABLE COMMUNITY WORK TOWARD PREDICTIONS OF STRESS RESPONSE AT DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES TO INCREASE BREEDING GAINS, MUCH LIKE SELECTIONS BASED ON GENOTYPE DO. THIS PROJECT IS WELL ALIGNED WITH PRIORITIES OF PROGRAM AREA A1152 TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY...OF AGRICULTURALLY-IMPORTANT PLANTS USING MOLECULAR...APPROACHES AND SUPPORT RESEARCH IN MECHANISMS OF PLANT RESPONSES TO ABIOTIC STRESSES AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE/UTILIZATION.