This colorful fall is quickly fading and winter is fast approaching. This semester has been a breath of fresh air with students back on campus, enjoying in-person learning again. The St. Paul campus seems to be humming with life as we’ve warmly welcomed back students, faculty, and staff to our buildings.
The first week of November we held our annual BBE showcase event and were able to recognize BBE and SSM students who were awarded undergraduate scholarships. BBE awarded a total of 72 undergraduate scholarships, something we wouldn’t be able to achieve without the generous support received from so many. Thank you, Council members, for spending some of your valuable time with us. Your thoughtful ideas and advice are invaluable to our program. We had engaging conversations on how to better serve our students, grow our program, and continue to foster our relationships with industry partners. We welcome any of you that may wish to join our Advisory Council, to do so. There is no prerequisite to join (and no fee), we just ask that you bring your ideas.
BBE’s scholarship recognition event featured cutting-edge keynote speeches from Gevo, Inc.’s Chief Carbon Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, Paul Bloom, and Sustainability Engineering Manager, Karen O’Brien. We received an insider view of the efforts their company is making to transform renewable energy and carbon into energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons, and learned about the use of a blockchain solution for the supply chain that led to the formation of Verity Tracking, a joint venture with Blocksize Capital, the first of its kind to trace sustainability claims from the field to flight.
In this issue of BioBriEf, we highlight BBE’s partnership with Gevo, Inc. as our faculty member, Dr. Shri Ramaswamy, and a team of researchers work towards decarbonizing aviation fuel with the aid of a $3.5mil grant from the Department of Energy. We are excited to see where this research will lead the biofuels industry! We also highlight the impact our scholarships have on BBE and SSM students, while showcasing the many reasons they are excited about the diverse tracks within the program.
Keep in touch and please stop by when you’re in the neighborhood!
Gary R. Sands,
Department Head and Professor