Dr. Jiakai Lu has been awarded two USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grants to pursue research designed to benefit the environment and human health in different ways.

In one project, funded with a three-year grant totaling $630,000, Dr. Lu aims to reduce the use of conventional agricultural pesticides by developing an eco-friendly drift reduction agent using essential oils derived from food waste, such as orange peel and culinary herbs. 

In the other project, Dr. Lu was awarded a two-year, $270,000 seed grant to work on developing a potentially scalable processing technology aimed for plant-based seafood that better mimics the texture of fish meat, a significant challenge in the effort to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to overfishing and related pollution.