Foster Agblevor
Director
USTAR Bioenergy Center
Utah State University
USA
Biography
Dr. Foster Agblevor is currently the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) endowed Professor of Biological Engineering at Utah State University (USU), Logan UT and Director of USTAR Bioenergy Center, Utah State University. He is also Adjunct Professor of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. He received Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry from the University of Toronto. He did postdoctoral work at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus, Honolulu, HI. Prior to joining USU in 2011, Dr Agblevor was Professor of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. He was also a Senior Chemical Engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Co. before joining Virginia Tech. Some of his awards and recognitions include the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Excellence in Basic Research Award, the Virginia Tech College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research. US Department of Energy Special Research Award. His research involves the thermochemical and biochemical conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals. He is currently working on the fractional catalytic pyrolysis of biomass to produce biochar, chemicals, and biogasoline.
Research Interest
Thermochemical and biochemical conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals & fractional catalytic pyrolysis of biomass to produce biochar, chemicals, and biogasoline.
Biography
Dr. Saady received a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Technology (Iraq), and a Ph.D. from the University of Windsor (Canada). He worked as an associate researcher at Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre, Sherbrooke, Quebec. He received seven prestigious scholarships including three NSERC top scholarships. He published 30+ peer-reviewed articles, two book’s chapters, and served on committees for 6 international conferences in USA, Canada and Europe. He is the Editor-in-Chief for Advances in Recycling & Waste Management Journal published by OMICS International. Dr. Saady is currently a consulting biogas projects development scientist.
Research Interest
Dr. Saady is specialized in developing environmental biotechnologies to bioconvert organic waste biomass into biofuel and bioenergy such as hydrogen, methane, and electricity using wet and dry anaerobic digestion. Microbial fuel cell and bioelectrochemical technology. Lignocellulose hydrolysis. Biodegradation and fate of recalcitrant organic compounds and emerging contaminants. Identification and evaluation of on-farm clean and renewable technologies. Biofiltration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in livestock industry waste gases. Development of psychrophilic microbial processes.
Biography
Dr. Simmons joined Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, CA, www.energy.sandia.gov) in 2001 as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff, serving as a member of the Materials Chemistry Department. He was promoted to Manager of the Energy Systems Department in 2006. The primary focus of the department was the development of novel materials-based solutions to meet the nation’s growing energy demands. In 2007, he was one of the principal co-investigators of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI, www.jbei.org), a ten year, $259M DOE funded project tasked with the development and realization of next-generation biofuels produced from non-food crops. He is currently serving as the Chief Science and Technology Officer and the Vice-President of the Deconstruction Division at JBEI, where he leads a team of 41 researchers working on advanced methods of liberating fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. He is also the Senior Manager of the Advanced Biomanufacturing Group at Sandia and serves as the Laboratory Relationship Manager for the Biomass Program. He has over 250 publications, book chapters, and patents. His work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, Fast Company, and the KQED televised science program Quest.
Research Interest
With a background in biofuel cells, nanophotonic materials, micro- and nanofluidics, desalination, biomineralization and enzyme engineering, Blake Simmons brings a wealth of research experience to the Deconstruction Division. Simmons has been responsible for overseeing the development of more energy-efficient and cost-effective methods to achieve the first step in bioenergy production: deconstructing biomass into fermentable sugars. Deconstruction researchers are developing various strategies for affecting these goals, including identifying microbes that have evolved to naturally break down biomass within a community, which become sources for efficient enzyme cocktails that could be used in the biomanufacturing process. In addition, scientists have developed new techniques, such as a one-pot ionic liquid pretreatment procedure that will reduce waste and cost, and another that does not require the use of expensive enzyme additives for pre-treating biomass and breaking it down into fuel sugars.
