Iowa State University Bioeconomy Institute (BEI) presented Leading the Bioeconomy Graduate Fellowships to engineering and food science and human nutrition graduate students on April 22. These fellowships are offered as part of the Leading the Bioeconomy Initiative appropriation from the Iowa Legislature, and administered through the Bioeconomy Institute (BEI). These fellowships seek to attract high caliber …Continue reading “Engineering students awarded 2014 Leading the Bioeconomy Graduate Fellowships”
Written by Bob Mills, Bioeconomy Institute communications specialist A mixed-media work of art entitled “Memento Mori” by Natalie Buskohl won the “Best in Show” award at the 2014 Biorenewables Art Competition held by the Bioeconomy Institute. Buskohl, a senior in Integrated Studio Arts in Iowa State University’s College of Design, received a $750 prize. Her …Continue reading “Mixed Media Piece Wins Biorenewables Art Competition”
Nineteen curious undergraduates gathered with five peer mentors in the lobby of the Biorenewables Research Laboratory (BRL) at Iowa State University for the annual “BRL Experience” on April 4. This event gives undergraduate students an opportunity to meet bioenergy researchers and graduate students, and tour the BRL engineering research labs. Throughout the visit, the undergraduate …Continue reading “Multicultural Learning Community Explores Biorenewables”
Written by Robert Mills Bioeconomy Institute A team headed by Robert Brown, BEI director, has been awarded a patent for bio-oil fractionation. “We have built much of our research around this technology,” Brown said. The patent, number US 8,476,480, was awarded in July 2013 to Brown; Samuel Jones, a former scientist with BEI’s Center for Sustainable …Continue reading “Brown and Team Awarded Patent Key to BEI Research”
Three students affiliated with BEI’s Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies (CSET) built two pyrolyzers in Nicaragua this summer to introduce farmers to the benefits of biochar. Bernardo Del Campo, Juan Proano Aviles, and Matt Kieffer, all graduate students in mechanical engineering at Iowa State University, spent two to three weeks near Matagalpa, Nicaragua, in June 2013. …Continue reading “BEI students introduce biochar to Nicaraguan farmers”
Stories by Robert Mills BEI student wins second excellence award Dustin Dalluge, a Ph.D. mechanical engineering student of BEI director Robert C. Brown, has been recognized for research excellence by Iowa State University’s Graduate College for the summer of 2013. Dalluge won the teaching excellence version of the same award earlier this year. He receives a …Continue reading “Bioeconomy Institute recognizes student, prepares for upcoming events”
The Iowa State Bioeconomy Institute recently published BEI 2013: Leading the Bioeconomy. The magazine is 16 pages and covers all of the institute’s efforts to advance the use of biorenewable resources for the production of fuels, chemicals and materials. Learn more about what the Bioeconomy Institute does and how it is trying to help our state as …Continue reading “ISU Bioeconomy Institute publishes 2013 magazine”
Several engineering students affiliated with the Bioeconomy Institute were among those recognized with Live Green Awards for Excellence in Sustainability at the Symposium for Sustainability held in February at Iowa State University. One award went to a group building biochar systems for emerging economies, while another was given to the “BioBus” team that creates biodiesel for Iowa …Continue reading “Students win awards for sustainability projects”
Iowa’s three Regents universities are making faculty hires, launching studies, partnering with community colleges and building industry partnerships – all in a $22 million effort to boost the state’s research capacity in renewable energy and energy utilization. The benefits to Iowa could be many: research grants, new technologies, startup companies, educational opportunities and workforce improvements …Continue reading “Iowa EPSCoR builds state’s research capacity in renewable energy and energy use”
Three teams of Iowa State University researchers will use grants from the Iowa Energy Center to develop biorenewable technologies. All three projects involve the thermochemical conversion of biomass to biorenewable fuels, chemicals, and products. The grants are part of the center’s mission to improve energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Up to a three-year, $468,000 …Continue reading “Iowa Energy Center supports research aimed at building Iowa’s bioeconomy”
When Robert Brown was perusing the early October publication of the National Academies of Sciences’ report on U.S. biofuels policy, his attention was drawn to its economic analysis. As he read on, Brown realized that this part of the report was heavily influenced by studies performed at Iowa State. “I was surprised to discover that …Continue reading “Brown discovers NAS report is based off Iowa State research”
A national panel led by Iowa State University engineers is launching an effort to research and develop technologies that capture, use and sequester carbon while enhancing food production, ecosystems, economic development and national security. The 33-member National Panel for a Carbon Negative Economy recently met for the first time in Chicago. Participants represented universities, companies, federal agencies …Continue reading “Iowa State engineers establish national panel to advance a carbon negative economy”
Bernardo del Campo is a PhD candidate at the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State who helps lead an organization called the Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel. Del Campo is helping answer the call for Iowa State to become an alternative fuels leader and he wrote the following editorial piece: Just like the national debt, our …Continue reading “PhD candidate featured in Biodiesel Magazine”
