Gene editing is a transformative technology that is providing agricultural researchers with powerful new tools to precisely work within the genomes of plants and animals. Using gene editing tools, such as CRISPR-CAS9, researchers are developing plants and animals that are more efficient, can resist devastating diseases and reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint.

For all its success in the laboratory, researchers working with gene editing still face a big hurdle: explaining the value and safety of the ground-breaking technology to consumers. A group of Iowa State University (ISU) students hopes to be part of doing just that.

The 11 students, enrolled in a seminar that is part of the ISU Agricultural...