James Dumesic is the Ernest Micek Distinguished Chair and Michel Boudart Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Dumesic's groundbreaking work on heterogeneous catalysis of biomass, which is funded in part by the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, has led to numerous inventions through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Specific projects include catalytic upgrading of biomass-derived sugars, production of biomass-derived solvents, catalytic production of long-chain fuel range hydrocarbons from biomass, bimetallic and bifunctional catalysis, hydrothermally stable acid catalysts, biphasic reaction systems, and biomass deconstruction and upgrading.