The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Missouri a $20 million grant as part of a multi-institutional consortium to study climate change and how corn maintains plant growth during drought conditions. With the funding, Mizzou engineers developed a robotic system that is changing the way scientists study climate variability, crops and plant composition. Gui DeSouza, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, colleagues and students in his Vision-Guided and Intelligent Robotics Laboratory are partnering with other researchers to study the effects of climate change on crops in Missouri. The goal is to develop drought tolerant corn to sustain the 9 billion global population estimated by 2050.