Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres Small and Illinois USDA Rural Development Director Betsy Dirksen Londrigan met with local leaders and community partners during a roundtable discussion at NCERC on Friday, March 31. The group discussed USDA grants and common issues facing rural communities in Central and Southern Illinois.

SIUE Chancellor James T. Minor, PhD, and NCERC Executive Director John Caupert were among those who welcomed the government officials.

Budzinski emphasized the many grant opportunities that USDA has to offer and the importance of making USDA’s work accessible for the surrounding communities and organizations.

“To the mayors and community members that are here, we really hope we can have a robust discussion around technical assistance as it is critically important to our rural communities,” said Budzinski. 

“I have heard about the incredible work SIUE does with workforce development and the cutting-edge work with biofuels,” said Torres Small. “When you are aware of all your assets and you work collaboratively, everyone succeeds. As we think about the future of higher education, in suburbs and outside of big cities, having that regional awareness is crucial because you serve such an important role in the workforce.”

NCERC is pleased to welcome Steve Ward, PE as its new project management engineer. In his new role, Ward will oversee research projects in NCERC’s pilot- and demonstration-scale research laboratories while working directly with clients from across the world who come to the center to perform scale-up of commercial-bound biotechnologies. In addition to his role on the research team, Steve will serve as a mentor for NCERC’s operations staff and those who participate in the workforce training programs at the center.

“I’m thrilled to be rejoining the NCERC team in this new role as the project management engineer and eager to work with its dynamic staff and clients again,” said Ward. “As an engineer, NCERC is an incredible place to work and I look forward to working with its leadership and operations teams again to see through exciting research in the bioindustrial manufacturing sector.”

Ward brings over 15 years of experience in engineering and project management to the NCERC leadership team, including a previous role at the center which he served from 2004 to 2016 in multiple roles. Ward earned his degree in chemical engineering from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and has his professional engineer’s license in Illinois and Missouri.

“We’re extremely excited to welcome Steve back to NCERC in the new role of Project Management Engineer,” said John Caupert, Executive Director of NCERC. “Steve brings an incredible amount of institutional knowledge about the Center, including several years of experience in corn-to-ethanol operations and research, which will serve us well as we continue to be the leading provider of biofuels research in the United States and beyond. With his leadership, we’ll be able to support more projects per year, creating new opportunities for collaboration and revenue generation.”

March 10 marked the final day of the Visiting Research Fellowship Program for Philip Kukielski and Colin Buck, two ambitious fellows who joined the NCERC team after completing their bachelor's degrees in May 2022.

During his time at NCERC, Philip led the day-to-day operations of a high-priority self-initiated research project validated NCERC's analytical method quantifying corn kernel fiber conversion to ethanol. In October, he joined Dr. Yan Zhang at the Fuel Ethanol Laboratory Conference (FELC) in Omaha and was able to connect with members of the industry. He was very successful during his time at NCERC and played a very important role in preparing the method for commercial introduction.

Colin played a key role on NCERC's operations team, contributing directly to multiple demonstration-scale client projects, putting his degree in Chemical Engineering to work while he learned the ins and outs of large-scale R&D. He quickly rose to the challenge and took on a client-facing role while helping to communicate process changes in order to meet and exceed client expectations.

Before they left, both Colin and Philip provided testimonials for the Visiting Research Fellowship Program, which you can access below. We're eager to see where their bright futures and exciting careers take them!

NCERC's business development team had a busy month in March, attending three key industry conferences and making dozens of new connections. The month kicked off in Orlando, FL at the National Ethanol Conference, where Executive Director John Caupert was able to catch up with Ethanol Champion and Congresswoman Cheri Bustos. Director of Business Development & Client Relations hosted an in-person networking event for the RFA's Young Professionals Network.

A couple of weeks later, John and Jackie were on the road again attending Growth Energy's Executive Leadership Conference in Dana Point, CA and meeting with industry colleagues while continuing to learn about key issues affecting the ethanol industry.

Lastly, John, Jackie, and Director of Research Dr. Yan Zhang headed to the nation's capital to attend the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference and meet with key staff at the Environmental Protection Agency. During that week, John and Jackie also met with staff members representing the offices of Congresswoman Nikki Budzkinski, Congressman Mike Bost, Senator Tammy Duckworth, and Senator Dick Durbin.

Social Media Spotlight: "National Bio-Based Products Day"

March 8 marked the first ever #NationalBiobasedProductsDay, an initiative led by the

USDA Biopreferred Program. NCERC is proud of our work with companies making the next generation of biobased products and fuels and the novel ways they decarbonize industry.

On August 11, 2023, NCERC will co-host the Green Drives Conference and Expo at our host university, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The Green Drives Edwardsville event is the first down-state event hosted by the Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation that expanded state-wide in 2022.

For over a decade the IL-ACT (formerly Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition) Green Drives Conference and Expo has been one of the largest clean-vehicle conferences held in the Midwest. This will be a must-attend event for commercial and municipal fleet managers, dealership personnel, businesses, conversion companies, suppliers, and clean-tech professionals in the Southern Illinois region.

Attendees not only get a chance to network with experts from throughout the nation and the region, but they learn of first-hand experiences from fleets currently using alternative fuels. Attendees also get an opportunity to test drive vehicles of all different sizes.

Learn more and register online! Early Bird General Admission is $75 and the deadline to take advantage of the discount is on July 21, 2023.

There are still several sponsorship opportunities available! Click here to download the sponsorship package. Event or sponsorship questions? Contact Joy Piazza, jpiazza@IL-ACT.org, 301.337.0898.

Successful transformation to the bioeconomy requires cross-disciplinary fluency informed by robust guiding principles on what it means to be sustainable. ALAKAʻI (Applied Life Science Academy: Knowledge Advancing Industry) is creating short, non-credit educational modules that address these needs so bioeconomy professionals can be more effective leaders.

Indigenous Hawaiian and Pacific Island perspectives on sustainability are increasingly informative for addressing climate change while enhancing communities and improving standards of living. ALAKAʻI trainings in technical, business, and social considerations for building the bioeconomy will be complemented by these perspectives, including the ways of waʻa (canoe), voyaging, and societies that endured for centuries in isolated island environments.

NCERC is part of the planning committee and we will have two sessions on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi in 2023:

We will also have cultural and sustainability immersion activities over the intervening weekend. Professionals from all level within their organizations are encouraged to attend. For more information, including hotel block reservations, please sign up for our distribution list at bioecon@hawaii.edu!

With support from an industry partner who has provided woody biomass samples from California almond and walnut orchards, NCERC is in the process of scaling up a woody biomass to biofuel project in January and February 2023. We anticipate performing multiple 5L runs and hope to scale up to 100L by the end of February. Dr. Mingjun Ma, NCERC's postdoctoral research fellow is leading the project. This is a critical project for gathering data for NCERC's proprietary low cost/low carbon pretreatment method for cellulosic feedstock to biofuel conversion.

Thanks to the support of the Renewable Fuels Association, NCERC is completing a project on the quantification of ethyl carbamate in DDGS sampled from 33 US ethanol plants. As of February 2, 2023, we're still in need of 7 samples from ethanol plants, and if you'd like to contribute a sample, please contact Jackie at jhayes@ethanolresearch.com.

For multiple years, NCERC has been developing and validating a proprietary method to accurately quantify the converted fraction of corn kernel fiber via in situ fermentation. We're currently in the process of running the method on industry samples and hope to present the results at industry conferences in 2023.

Orlando, FL

February 28 - March 2

Mascoutah, IL

March 10

St. Louis, MO

March 14

Dana Point, CA

March 15 - 18

Washington, DC

March 21 & 22

Washington, DC

March 22 - 24

St. Louis, MO

April 5

NCERC Facility

April 6

Minneapolis, MN

April 25 - 27

Carbondale, IL

April 27

Waterloo, IL

April 28

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