Tessa Pocock, Ph.D.
Dr. Tessa Pocock is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After obtaining a PhD in plant physiology in Canada she moved her research to Sweden as a recipient of a prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship. She joined RPI in 2014 after a decade in the European horticultural lighting industry where she oversaw over 800 LED spectral high-throughput experiments on greens, herbs and medicinal plants. She is co-inventor on four technology patents, has authored or co-authored three book chapters and twenty-one peer reviewed articles and has spoken at over 27 international conferences. Her specific interests include using LEDs (irradiance, spectral composition, timing, duration) to program photochemical, photosynthetic, development and biochemical processes in plants and the development of a physiological biofeedback system to maintain or change set LED physiological programs.
“The characteristics of LEDs such as narrow wavebands, rapid switching speeds and programmability are ideal for managing or modulating crop growth. Together with sensing and control both energy and non-energy benefits of LED systems can be realized” – Tessa Pocock
