John Greenler, Director of Education Programs, Wisconsin Energy Institute, UW-Madison

Finding sustainable liquid fuels for use in the transportation industry that will replace petroleum products including gas, diesel and jet-fuel is a major challenge on a national and international scale. Specialty biofuels that are derived from cellulosic crops that do not compete with food production have the potential to supplant a substantial fraction of these petroleum products, while providing significant environmental benefits, and economic opportunities for farmers, communities and the energy industry. The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), which is has eight member institutions and is in its tenth year of funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, is led by UW-Madison, with Michigan State University as a major partner. It is comprised of more than 400 scientists, students and staff who work together in a transdisciplinary fashion and represent a wide array of disciplines from molecular biology to economics and engineering. Research in the GLBRC takes a “field to pump” approach that is framed by sustainability and its respective dimensions of environment, economics and society. GLBRC is broken down into four research areas: Plants, Deconstruction, Conversion and Sustainability. At UW-Madison, GLBRC is housed within the Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI).