BioSUCCEED: An Instructional Platform for Biomass &

Bioenergy

North American Colleges and Teachers of AgricultureLucia, L.A.;. Hubbe, M.A.; Kelley, S.S.; Venditti, R.A.; Jameel, H.;

Filpponen, I.; Cao, X.; Schimmel, K.A.; Rials, T.G.15th June 2011

* Objectives *Provide the final, concise international overview of our USDA-sponsored teaching &

research program in biomass & bioenergy

Evoke your interest in its continued existence and promotion at your place of work, research, learning,

living

The basis for its inception

• In 2006, President Bush laid out a vision for the production of “bio”-energy– A critical confluence of science

& policy– He called for renewable resource

exploitation and self-sufficiency

• We assembled BioSUCCEED in the wake of that historic moment– A Southern Triumvirate was

assembled: NCSU, NCA&T, UT-AC– Each has great strengths in

biomass & bioenergy training, education, research, and extension

Shown above is “Hubbert’sPeak” – a geological assessment (1956) of Annual Oil Production vs. year

Actual

Predicted (smooth)

See: watd.wuthering-heights.co.uk/subpages/hubbertmaths/hubbertmaths.html

What is BioSUCCEED?• Acronym: Bioproducts

Sustainability, a University Cooperative Center for Excellence in EDucation

• A virtual teaching & training Center located at: www.biosucceed.com

• Addressing the biomass changes going on at the grass roots level

Let’s look at highlights of survey data (impacts)

• http://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurveys.aspx

• N = 34

• Data was classified as important

• Most believed that Renewables will have big part of our economy in next 20 years

• 56% indicated that the program enhanced lives in some tangible way (# 6, 7)

http://www.biosucceed.com

i. Biomass Fundamentals

ii. Characterization

iii. Biological Processing

iv. Thermal Conversion (coming soon)

v. Solid-State Composites

vi. Life Cycle Analysis

What were the mechanics to Succeed?

• Visits among Universities & monthly update/progress meetings

• Coordination of work output within the six (6) courses developed: outlines, laboratories, research exercises, new teaching tools, & papers/publications

• Central website (www.biosucceed.com)

• Development of survey

• Conferences & reports

Biggest problems & solutions

• Involvement of people & Feedback

• First: post-assessment intervention survey – too DIFFICULT to do well (anecdotal information is what we want)

• Second: getting surveys completed is a losing proposition; we elected to do it at Conferences and with targeted groups (USP, classes)

Interconnectivity!

1. http://

biosucceed.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nactadoce-presen

tations.html

2. http://

www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_396008630920

&ap=1

3. https://

communities.acs.org/groups/biosucceed/blog/2011/06/06/

nactadoce-2011-conference-presentations

4. http://twitter.com/

Magnum Opus: Textbook accepted• A textbook will be coming out of this work that will

be published and marketed by Wiley !• Tentative title: Introduction to Renewable

Biomaterials: First Principles and Concepts– A detailed table of contents (chapter titles and author details) submitted to

Wiley by 1st August 2011– A sample chapter submitted to Wiley by 1st March 2012 (they use this to assess

the level of copy-editing required)– Delivery date for the completed manuscript of 1st June 2012 – This schedule would result in publication around December 2012.

In conclusion, what did we learn?

• This area is FUN, HIGHLY USEFUL, and makes a DIFFERENCE in people’s lives

• We wrote some cool papers on the work we have been doing that teach a lot about biomass (http://www.ncsu.edu/biosucceed/why.html)

• For example, we were invited by Chem. Rev. to discuss work in cellulose nanocrystals (this journal gets a lot of citations, ergo, influence)

• Working together is a great way to develop a synergy and momentum

Thanks for your attention!

Please write to us: biosucceed@ncsu.edu with your questions, comments, concerns,

advice, and suggestions…

Acknowledgments• NC State University, NCA&T, UT

• Laboratory of Soft Materials & Green Chemistry

• Gregory Smith, Program Officer USDA

• Special thanks to Richard Norris, Dustin Duckwall, Greg Robinson, Charlie Morris, Joshua Gira