For more than three decades, Dr. Jennifer Rood has been a driving force at Pennington Biomedical, building a career defined by scientific rigor, leadership and impact. Since joining the Center in 1993, she has served in a range of leadership roles, most recently as Associate Executive Director for Cores and Resources, where she oversees the critical infrastructure supporting the Center’s basic, clinical and population research.

Over the years, she has led several of these core functions herself – including the Clinical Chemistry, Exercise Testing and Mass Spectrometry cores—advancing the specialized expertise and technologies that power the Center’s discoveries. Her work also extends beyond the lab as co-director of the Center for Military Performance and Resilience, where her Department of Defense-funded research focuses on nutrition, metabolism and human physiology to enhance performance and readiness.

Now, as senior vice chancellor and interim executive director, Dr. Rood is helping lead Pennington Biomedical through an important period of transition – focused on supporting its people, strengthening collaboration and continuing the momentum of research that improves health in Louisiana and around the world.

Labeled glass containers full of liquids stirred by spinning magnets are connected to humming machines with neatly organized tubes. Here in this lab space at the Idaho National Laboratory, scientists are pioneering ways to extract critical materials from recycled waste products.

A research project led by Murdoch University's Centre for Crop and Food Innovation (CCFI), in collaboration with Australian Grain Technologies, The University of Western Australia, Curtin University and the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, is working to reduce fertiliser dependency for one of the nation's most important export crops: wheat.

Idaho teachers leaned into artificial intelligence with a mix of curiosity and caution during a recent professional development session hosted by Idaho National Laboratory.