Rajnish Khanna

Rajnish Khanna is a strategic biotechnology consultant and photobiologist who combines scientific expertise with entrepreneurial innovation to advance sustainable agriculture and environmental monitoring. Born in 1966, he earned his Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from Purdue University and has built an impressive career spanning academia and industry. As founder and CEO of i-Cultiver Inc. and Global Food Scholar Inc., he develops technological solutions for agricultural sustainability, including TerreLocal, a platform that digitally maps local food supply with demand. His scientific contributions include groundbreaking work at UC Berkeley, where he identified the APB motif in plant photoreceptors, and at Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford, where he focused on technology transfer and environmental monitoring. He has partnered with Greg Asner to make CLASlite, a sophisticated forest monitoring software, accessible to users worldwide through a sustainable user-funded model. Currently serving as a scientific advisor to The Chopra Foundation, he continues to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and practical applications in sustainable agriculture, while leading initiatives in biotechnology education and environmental conservation.