PUBLIC AFFAIRS
ASPB Members Well Represented in EFRC Competition
The White House recently announced the award of 46 new Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) to accelerate scientific breakthroughs to develop new energy technologies for the 21st century. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will invest $777 million in the 46 EFRCs over the next five years, supported in part by funding made available in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (economic stimulus legislation).
The 46 EFRCs will be funded at $2 million to $5 million each per year for an initial five-year period. The centers were selected from approximately 260 proposals and will engage over 110 institutions from 36 states and the District of Columbia, as well as some international partners. The participants include universities, DOE national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms. DOE reports that the EFRCs will involve nearly 700 senior investigators and employ (full- and part-time) over 1,100 postdoctoral associates, graduate students, undergraduate students, and technical staff. Many centers will use DOE scientific facilities for their research.
A review of the 46 awards shows that
- 20 EFRCs will focus on renewable and carbon-neutral energy (solar energy utilization, advanced nuclear energy systems, biofuels, geological sequestration of CO2);
- six EFRCs will focus on energy efficiency (clean and efficient combustion, solid state lighting, superconductivity);
- six EFRCs will focus on energy storage (hydrogen research, electrical energy storage); and
- 14 EFRCs will focus on crosscutting science (catalysis, materials under extreme environments, other).
Click here to see the administration announcement, a list of awards, and synopses (including research partners) of the 46 EFRCs.
Several of the awards were made to ASPB members:
Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio)
Maureen McCann, Director
Purdue University
Objective: To use fundamental knowledge about the interactions between catalysts and plant cell walls to design improved processes for the conversion of biomass to energy, fuels, or chemicals.
This EFRC will combine expertise in biology, chemistry, and engineering to increase much-needed knowledge of catalysis pertaining to plant cell wall chemistry. The EFRC includes planned collaborations with scientists at the University of Tennessee for development of “hybrid” catalysts and catalytic conversion of renewable materials; with National Renewable Energy Laboratory for advanced, high-resolution biomass imaging technology and computational modeling; and with researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory for advanced scattering and imaging techniques using the Advanced Photon Source. Additional scattering experiments using the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are also planned.
Maureen McCann has been a member of ASPB since 2002 and currently mentors new members. She was a speaker at the Pan American Congress on Plants and BioEnergy in Mérida, Mexico, in June 2008.
Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Function
Daniel Cosgrove, Director
Pennsylvania State University
Objective: To dramatically increase our fundamental knowledge of the physical structure of biopolymers in plant cell walls to provide a basis for improved methods for converting biomass into fuels.
To achieve its objective, this EFRC will study the physical structure of lignocellulose at the nanoscale level and the rules and principles by which lignocellulose is created. An interdisciplinary team that includes plant and microbial molecular biologists, chemists, physicists, material scientists, engineers, and computational modelers will utilize advanced, cutting-edge approaches and methodology to bring about desperately needed advances in the fundamental understanding of the “rules of assembly” of plant cell wall. Specifically, the focus will be placed on understanding the cellulose synthesis, lignocellulose assembly, and the relationship between nanoscale structure and macroscale properties such as porosity and mechanics of the plant cell wall. This EFRC has a strong potential for transforming bioenergy and materials sciences through combined molecular, genetic, and nanomaterials engineering approaches and includes planned collaborations with scientists at North Carolina State University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Dan Cosgrove joined ASPB in 1979. In 1991, he won the ASPB Charles Albert Shull Award for his incisive work on the biophysics of plant cell enlargement. Cosgrove served as president of ASPB in 2000–2001. In 2008, he was an ASPB Education Foundation Grant Award Program (GAP) recipient for “A Competition for New Plant Biology Videos on YouTubeTM.” His follow-up work, “Using YouTubeTM and AnimotoTM to Engage Students in Plant Biology Classes,” won the 2009 ASPB Education Booth Competition for presentation in the exhibit hall during PB09 in Honolulu.
Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC)
Robert Blankenship, Director
Washington University, St. Louis
Objective: To understand the basic scientific principles that underpin the efficient functioning of the natural photosynthetic antenna system as a basis for man-made systems to convert sunlight into fuels.
PARC proposes a program in basic scientific research aimed at understanding the principles of light harvesting and energy funneling as applied to natural photosynthetic, biohybrid, and bioinspired antenna systems. The goal of this work is to elucidate the basic scientific principles that underlie the efficient functioning of natural photosynthetic antenna systems and how those principles can be translated into concepts that will form the basis for next-generation systems for solar energy conversion. This will be accomplished using structural techniques such as neutron scattering and diffraction at the Spallation Neutron Source and the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and advanced microscopy at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnology at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. PARC includes planned collaborations with scientists at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, the University of California–Riverside, the University of Glasgow (U.K.), the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Sheffield (U.K.).
Robert Blankenship won ASPB’s 2008 Charles F. Kettering Award. This award, established by the Kettering Foundation in 1962, recognizes excellence in the field of photosynthesis. As a major symposium speaker at PB05 in Seattle, Blankenship presented “Photosynthesis—From Photons to Sugar.” He has been a member of ASPB since 2001.
Center for Advanced Biofuels Systems (CABS)
Richard Sayre, Director
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Objective: To generate the fundamental knowledge required to increase the efficiency of photosynthesis and production of energy-rich molecules in plants.
CABS will focus its efforts on the model algae Chlamydomonas and the oilseed plant Camellina. Metabolic networks will be modified to increase lipid and thus “bio-oil” synthesis, and new metabolic pathways will be designed for production of hydrocarbons from sunlight. Utilizing the skills of plant biochemists, biophysicists, and computational biologists, this innovative center will integrate all aspects of metabolism, from the early events in photosynthesis to the synthesis and accumulation of oils and biofuel precursors. This EFRC may lead to a transformational channeling of solar energy through carbon metabolism and, ultimately, into biofuels, and includes planned collaborations with scientists at the University of Nebraska, University of Missouri–St. Louis, University of Arizona, and Michigan State University.
Richard Sayre became an ASPB member in 1977. He has been a long-serving participant on the ASPB Committee on Public Affairs. In 2008, he joined the committee to nominate recipients of the ASPB Lawrence Bogorad Award for Excellence in Plant Biology Research. Additionally, from 2003 to 2005, he served as the elected secretary–treasurer for ASPB’s Midwestern Section.
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