Symposium on Science and Technology Driving the Bioeconomy

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

This award is partial support of the Symposium on Stakeholders Perspective on the Bioeconomy as part of the meeting of the USDA S-1075 Multistate Committee. The biobased economy has potential to produce biofuels and bioproducts in an environmentally sustainable way. This consortia of researchers from 35 land grant universities address barriers to a bioeconomy including challenges in feedstock logistics and conversion technologies. Annual meetings of the S-1045 multistate committee are held to coordinate and share research from land grant universities across the nation. Symposiums are organized with leading researchers and speakers from funding agencies to share the latest research knowledge and coordinate future research. The 2019 S-1075 Multistate Committee annual symposium will be held at the USDOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on July 29-30, 2019. The goal of the 2019 symposium is to develop an understanding of the key challenges when trying to commercialize bioenergy and bioproduct technologies. NSF funding will be used to support graduate students to attend this symposium and to meet with NREL researchers. This is a meeting where the students can interact with the entire sector of the bioeconomy including researchers, producers, processors, financial sector and government agencies. This will help in orienting the next workforce generation to challenges and opportunities in the bioeconomy. The proceedings from the symposium will be published in both hard and soft copy formats and distributed widely to interested audience by S-1045 members. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.