A MAJOR CHALLENGE FACING THE AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY IS HOW TO AMELIORATE THE EFFECTS THAT CLIMATE CHANGE-INDUCED DROUGHT STRESS IMPOSES ON CROP PRODUCTIVITY. DROUGHT STRESS IS THE MAJOR LIMITING FACTOR FOR CROP YIELD AND IS ESTIMATED TO INCREASE IN FREQUENCY AND MAGNITUDE AS CLIMATE CHANGE INTENSIFIES. TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT ON CROP PRODUCTIVITY, INDUSTRIAL CROP VARIETIES NEED TO BE IMPROVED THROUGH GENETICS TO COPE WITH WATER-LIMITED ENVIRONMENTS. FOR THIS TO BE POSSIBLE, GENES CONTROLLING KEY TRAITS RELATED TO CROP PRODUCTIVITY UNDER DROUGHT NEED TO BE IDENTIFIED SO BREEDING PROGRAMS CAN TARGET THESE GENES FOR CROP IMPROVEMENT.ROOT SYSTEMS PROVIDE AN AVENUE FOR SOLVING THE ISSUE OF ENGINEERING OUR CROPS TO COPE WITH DROUGHT. ROOTS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR THE PROLIFERATION OF PLANT SPECIES BECAUSE THEY ARE THE PRIMARY ORGAN FOR WATER AND SOIL NUTRIENT ACQUISITION. ROOTS ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR SENSING SOIL WATER DEFICITS AND INITIATING DROUGHT SURVIVAL MECHANISMS.INDUSTRIAL CROPVARIETIES STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN YIELD UNDER DROUGHT STRESS BECAUSE OF HOW BREEDING PROGRAMS HAVE PRIORITIZED SELECTING FOR HIGH YIELD OVER ROOT SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT. THIS SELECTION IS DONE DESPITE THE TRADEOFFS BETWEEN HIGH YIELD AND ROOT SYSTEMS AMONG OTHER DROUGHT ADAPTIVE TRAITS. THE LACK OF ROOT SYSTEM PRIORITIZATION IS BECAUSE FEW STUDIES EXIST THAT CHARACTERIZE THE GENETICS OF ROOT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE (RSA) DUE TO THE DIFFICULTY OF MEASURING ROOTS - OFFERING BREEDING PROGRAMS LITTLE TO NO GENES TO USE FOR ROOT ENHANCEMENT THROUGH BREEDING. IF THE AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY IS TO CONTINUE TO SUPPLY FOOD FOR THE GLOBAL POPULATION WHILE ANNUAL DROUGHT INCREASES, IT IS PARAMOUNT THAT THE FOCUS OF CROP IMPROVEMENT IS SHIFTED TOWARDS ENHANCING ROOT SYSTEMS THROUGH GENETICS.MY PROJECTAIMS TO IDENTIFY NOVEL GENES THAT CONTROL MAIZE RSA DEVELOPMENT IN BOTH WELL-WATERED AND DROUGHT STRESSED ENVIRONMENTS. THESE IDENTIFIED GENES WILL HELP MAIZE BREEDING PROGRAMS DEVELOP DROUGHT TOLERANT VARIETIES BYBREEDING FOR GENETICS THAT ENHANCE RSA. I WILL ACCOMPLISH THIS BY GROWING MANY DIFFERENT MAIZE VARIETIES THAT DIFFER BOTH GENETICALLY AND IN THEIR ROOT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT. AFTER MEASURING NUMEROUS ROOT TRAITS FOR EVERY VARIETY OF MAIZE, I WILL THEN CONDUCT MANY STATISTICAL ANALYSES TO DRAW ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENCES IN THEIR GENETICS AND ROOT SYSTEM TRAITS. REGIONS OF THE MAIZE GENOME THAT SHOW SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATIONS WITH DIFFERENCES IN ROOT SYSTEM TRAITS WILL THEN BE FURTHER INVESTIGATED TO IDENTIFY NOVEL GENES CONTROLLING MAIZE ROOT TRAIT DYNAMICS.