Fighting Hunger: A DNA Engineer’s Path to Science and Success

Charles Stewart, Jr., is a research associate at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he works to understand how plant enzymes make an array of chemicals important to medicine and agriculture. Using the 3D protein structure as a roadmap, he studies the evolution of protein function and how proteins can be engineered to improve the quality and quantity of the world's food supply. Stewart was the first graduate of Science Bound, Iowa State's program to increase the number of ethnically diverse Iowa youth pursuing science, technology, engineering and math careers. He earned a degree in agricultural biochemistry from Iowa State in 2000 and was a member of the George Washington Carver Internship Program. He also served as National President of the Society for Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences. Stewart went on to earn a PhD in plant biology from Cornell University.