On March 29, NCERC hosted a meeting for Advisory Board Members and Stakeholders, including SIUE's new Chancellor, Dr. James Minor. For the first time in several years, the meeting met quorum requirements for its Advisory Board with representation from the SIU System through President Dan Mahony, Illinois Department of Agriculture through Director Jerry Costello, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity through Tracey Glenn, IL Corn Growers Association through President Marty Marr, National Corn Growers Association through President-Elect Tom Haag, Renewable Fuels Association through CEO Geoff Cooper, SIUC College of Agriculture, Life, and Physical Sciences through Dean Eric Brevik, and University Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences through Adam Davis.

During the meeting, NCERC staff and student employees shared insight on the current status of NCERC's impactful workforce training programs, which included the publishing of the first annual Workforce Training & Education Report, which can be accessed here.

The meeting also included a dynamic discussion around preparing for NCERC's updated strategic plan and a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, which is currently being updated using feedback from meeting participants.

University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo and NCERC partner to form the ALAKA’I Project: Applied Life-Science Academy: Knowledge Advancing Industry

Through funding provided by BioMADE, the University of Hawai’i at Hilo (UH Hilo) and the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) have partnered to form “ALAKA’I”, Applied Life-Science Academy: Knowledge Advancing Industry, a project that establishes a bioeconomy academy to accelerate climate change solutions by developing industry-relevant training for delivery in Hawaii and across the United States.BioMADE logo

Launched in 2021, BioMADE is the most recently established Manufacturing Innovation Institute. BioMADE works with its members to secure America’s future through biomanufacturing innovation, education, and collaboration. It is a member of Manufacturing USA®, a national network created to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing through large-scale public-private collaboration on technology, supply chain, and education and workforce development.

The primary objective of the ALAKA’I is to provide unique training for high-impact professionals in the bioeconomy, including operators, technicians, scientists, managers, policy makers, regulators, investors, advocates, as well as students, by providing necessary multi-disciplinary understanding of the many factors behind making transformational change. UH Hilo leads the ALAKA’I project and will pilot flagship trainings in July 2022 and again in summer 2023. ALAKA’I curriculum will draw on traditional Hawaiian and Pacific Island cultural perspectives to provide insights and guiding principles for effective sustainability.

On April 21, NCERC is participating in "One Day, One SIUE", a day dedicated to celebrating SIUE through online giving and an evening event. This campaign is NCERC's first fundraiser ever and a great way for NCERC supporters, such as alumni, former staff, former clients, and biofuels advocates, to support our research projects in high-priority areas. Learn more and give by going to www.SIUEday.com.

NCERC's research team has been working on an in-situ fermentation of corn kernel fiber with intentions to produce high-protein DDGS for use in an aquaculture feeding trial. The early results of this study were showcased at the 2021 FEW and work has continued in January 2022.

Work on hemp to biofuel conversion will continue this fall through funding provided to NCERC Director of Fermentation Dr. Jie Dong from a special SIUE funding program, COVID-19 Assigned Research Time, that enables assistant and associate professors to address promotion and tenure research activities that have been negatively impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic.

As a continued effort to scale up sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) conversion, NCERC has hired another graduate assistant who is assisting Dr. Dong in this area of his research throughout the academic year. This research is part of a larger group of researchers who submitted a grant proposal to the Dept of Energy's Bioenergy Technology Office in June with plans to commercialize a corn to isopentenol to SAF method. An NCERC Graduate Assistant working on this project presented a poster featuring research findings at the 2021 Alternative Fuels and Chemicals Coalition (AFCC) in November.

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. NCERC recently hired a graduate assistant to lead this research over the next academic year, with hopes that we will continue to scale up the conversion method initially established by Director of Research Dr. Yan Zhang. A special thanks to Waste Connections for providing quarterly samples of MSW!

March 2

NCERC Facility

March 8

St. Louis, MO

March 10

NCERC Facility

March 16 - 18

Washington, DC

March 29

NCERC Facility

March 30

SIUE Campus

April 1

Helix Center - St. Louis, MO

April 6

NCERC Facility

April 13

Virtual

April 13

Virtual

April 21

SIUE Campus

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