Multiple Metro-East publications, including the Alton Telegraph and Edwardsville Intelligencer, shared an article on December 28, showcasing important articles and events from the 2022 calendar year. The article written by Edwardsville Intelligencer staff writer Scott Marion in June 2022 about NCERC's upcoming 20th anniversary and previous successes was included in the recap.

On December 13, NCERC hosted its third "Careers in Biotechnology" job shadow program participant. Wyatt Biermann, a senior at Father McGivney High School in Glen Carbon, IL, spent the day at NCERC with staff learning about chemical engineering and various applications of it in biotechnology.

The Associate Director, Project Management Engineer position will provide leadership and technical support to research projects taking place in the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) Pilot Plant. 

This position will work with NCERC’s Business Development and Operations team to see through the preparation and execution of all pilot- and demonstration-scale projects. As a point of contact for NCERC’s external clients, the Project Engineer will be demonstrably proficient in technical and management skills and possess a high degree of professionalism and self-initiative. The Project Engineer will serve as the liaison between project management and technical staff to achieve project goals from conception to completion. Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned based on the needs and goals of the Center and current projects. 

Through funding provided by SIUE's Transitional & Exploratory Projects (STEP) grant program, NCERC will continue our research on the conversion of municipal solid waste (MSW), waste that comes from both residential and commercial sources, to biofuel. Ajay Venigalla, the student who lead this research over the last academic year, prepared this project for scale-up under the guidance of Dr. Yan Zhang. This work will continue when the NCERC research team has time in between contractual research projects. A special thanks to Waste Connections for providing quarterly samples of MSW!

A couple of proposals are currently underway and will expand NCERC's self-initiated research portfolio if funded. Stay tuned!

Virtual

December 1

Virtual

December 7

Edwardsville, IL

December 8

NCERC Facility

December 12

St. Louis, MO

December 13

Virtual

January 4

St. Louis, MO

January 10

Edwardsville, IL

January 12

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