A message from the Department Head
Hua Zhao
I hope you’ve enjoyed the beautiful season transition. In this edition of BioBriEf Newsletter, I am happy to share some exciting stories from our students and faculty.
Thank you, all advisory council members, donors, students, faculty and staff, for participating in our BBE Showcase on October 23. We welcomed over 30 alumni, donors and friends to various events that day. Fourteen (14) companies/organizations attended our BBE Career Fair, along with CSE and CFANS Career Services. I thank them for supporting our students in exploring internship, co-op, and job opportunities.
We welcome our new Assistant Professor, Dr. Xiaowen Chen, to our department. He specializes in biomass conversion, biomaterial development, and techno-economic analysis. Professor Roger Ruan was officially inducted into the National Academy of Engineering this October. Professor Erin Cortus received the Distinguished Extension Faculty Award at the annual Extension Conference. Congratulations, Roger and Erin! In addition, kudos to Dr. Lang Qiao, a postdoctoral researcher who works in Professor Ce Yang’s robotics lab, for receiving the UMN Postdoc Impactful Research Award.
In this issue, we feature the successes of several students, including Lila Branchaw’s summer internship at Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Ella Griffin’s summer research experience in my lab, Edie Bollenbach’s passion in Environmental and Ecological Engineering, and Ness Carda’s interest in business and sustainability. Our 2023 graduate of Sustainable Systems Management (SSM), Alice Lesch, shared her inspirational journey to her current role as a program coordinator at Frontier Energy.
Our department is searching for three tenure-track faculty positions. I invite you to join the public seminars presented by our finalists in the spring.
As the holidays approach, I wish you and your family a safe and joyful season!
Hua Zhao, Professor and Head