Professor Elizabeth “Lisa” Ainsworth was formally honored as the Charles Adlai Ewing Endowed Chair in Crop Physiology in the Department of Crop Sciences at an investiture ceremony held at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, on March 27, 2025.

Ainsworth is internationally renowned for her research investigating plant responses to global climate change. Her goal is to maximize crop production in a future world of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone concentrations, higher temperatures, and a greater probability of drought stress.

Throughout her career, Ainsworth has led several interdisciplinary and multi-institutional team science projects involving Illinois and partner institutions worldwide. She directs the Soybean Free Air Concentration Enrichment (SoyFACE) facility, the longest-running open-air experiment studying crop responses to global atmospheric change, and Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency, an international research project engineering crops to be more productive by improving photosynthesis. 

“Lisa’s research, which spans plant physiology, biochemistry, and genomics, has earned national and international recognition and has profound implications for the future of agriculture. She is focused on addressing one of the greatest challenges of our time: feeding a growing population in a world increasingly affected by climate change. With climate impacts becoming the new normal, Lisa’s work is not only timely but vital,” said College of ACES Dean Germán Bollero.

Ainsworth earned her doctorate in crop sciences from the University of Illinois, performing some of the earliest experiments in the SoyFACE facility. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in Germany, she returned to the U. of I. to join the Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Ainsworth became the leader of the unit in 2019. During her time at ARS, Ainsworth also held appointments in the Department of Crop Sciences and the Department of Plant Biology, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She transitioned fully to her current faculty role, with professorships in both departments, in late 2024.

With over 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in top interdisciplinary journals like Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, her research has deeply impacted her field on an international scale. Repeatedly named one of the world’s most influential scientists, Ainsworth has made a measurable difference in adapting key crops to maximize productivity in current and future climates. 

Ainsworth credits the collaborative culture of the University of Illinois as a major contributor to her professional success. 

“Illinois is a place where collaboration grows as easily as corn and soybeans, and group science is highly valued here. The open door policy and the cross-fertilization of ideas and disciplines at this university provide unmatched opportunities. I'm really grateful to the generosity of my colleagues across campus, because that's why I'm here today,” Ainsworth said. “I feel tremendously blessed to have had the opportunity to dream big, to do impactful research, and especially work with so many very talented people.”

Charles Adlai Ewing Endowed Chair in Crop Physiology

The fund was established in 2003 through a memorial bequest by Mary Ewing Henderson in honor of her father, Charles Adlai Ewing, and his dedication to agricultural research.

Henderson was born in 1914, the daughter of Charles Adlai Ewing and Idelle Kerrick Ewing, a granddaughter of Isaac Funk, a trailblazing Central Illinois farmer. 

Charles Adlai Ewing practiced law in Bloomington and Decatur but gave up his law practice in 1908 to farm the Funk land Idelle inherited in McLean County, in addition to his family’s land in Macon County.

Charles Adlai Ewing served as a member of the advisory committee for the College of Agriculture, now known as the College of ACES. Ewing also served on the first board of directors of the National Livestock Producers Association and was president of the National Livestock Publishing Company and the National Livestock Marketing Association. He was also a director of the Chicago Producers Commission Association.

In 1930, Ewing was appointed Chairman of the Livestock Advisory Committee of the Federal Farm Board by President Herbert Hoover. Proud of her father’s extraordinary accomplishments and remarkable contributions to agriculture, Henderson aided in maintaining the working family farm in McLean County and established the Charles Adlai Ewing Endowed Chair in Crop Physiology to keep his memory alive.