BioSUCCEED is a multi-year project that was funded by the USDA to provide content to all users interested in biomass & bioenergy. NC State University has been working on developing content through its laboratory work, classroom development, and research. It is broadcast on http://www.ncsu.edu/biosucceed for all interested users.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Cancellation of Presentation at Pacifi-Chem
My apologies to all - we will not be presenting at Pacifi-Chem. However, we will be presenting an end of project lecture in Calgary next year...
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
AD-421 Report Loaded for USDA
We have reported on our activity as of this last year, but still need more of your stories. Please let us know, our followers, what you have found of interest or of utility to you in your quest to pursue biomass concepts and paradigms. We look forward to hearing from you!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Pacifi-Chem 2010
Looks like we will be going to the Pacific Basin Conference to share our work with not only researchers/teachers from North America, but from the rest of the world. This special every 5-year conference brings together a plethora of talent and sharing opportunities that are unprecedented in our academic circles. I am pleased to be able to go and share the fruit of our BioSUCCEED effort. It is pleasing to be able to go to this event on behalf of NCSU, NCA&T, and UT.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
ASEE Conference 2010
My colleague, Prof. Schimmel, who works at NCA&T gave a presentation on our work. The abstract can be found at:
http://soa.asee.org/paper/conference/paper-view.cfm?id=24535
We have a conference publication as a result of this whose content is shown below. It does a really good job of explaining our program. Please let me know if you have any questions. Prof. Schimmel can be reached at: schimmel[at]NCAT[dot]edu.
AC 2010-1985: BIOSUCCEED: BIO-PRODUCTS SUSTAINABILITY, A
UNIVERSITY COOPERATIVE CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION
Keith Schimmel, North Carolina A&T State University
Keith Schimmel is Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Director of the Energy and
Environmental Ph.D. program, and Director of Education and Outreach for the NOAA
Interdisciplinary Scientific Environmental Technology Cooperative Science Center at North
Carolina A&T State University. He received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue
University. He also holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern
University.
Lucian Lucia, North Carolina State University
Lucian Lucia is Associate Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Wood & Paper Science at
North Carolina State University. Dr. Lucia received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from
the University of Florida.
Jianzhong Lou, North Carolina A&T State University
Jianzhong Lou is Professor of chemical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University. Dr.
Lou received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Zhejiang University of Technology.
He also holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Utah.
Abolghasem Shahbazi, North Carolina A&T State University
Ghasem Shahbazi is Professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at North Carolina A&T
State University. Dr. Shahbazi received his B.S. degree in agricultural engineering from the
University of Tabriz. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural engineering from the
University of California, Davis and Pennsylvania State University, respectively.
Timothy Rials, University of Tennessee
Tim Rials is Professor & Director of the Southeastern Regional Sun Grant at the University of
Tennessee Agricultural Campus Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries. Dr. Rials
received his B.S. in Forestry from Mississippi State University. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are in Wood Science & Technology from Virginia Tech.
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010
BioSUCCEED: Bio-products Sustainability, a University
Cooperative Center for Excellence in Education
Abstract
Three land-grant universities have identified mutual and complementary interests for the pursuit
of an academic program in biomaterials and bioenergy, Bio-products Sustainability, a University
Cooperative Center for Excellence in Education (BioSUCCEED). BioSUCEED's innovation is
based on the development of graduate-level programmatic modules that can be delivered by any
of the three University partners. The initiative has been developing content for six biomass and
bioenergy related classes: Fundamentals of Biomaterials Science, Biomaterials
Characterization, Thermal Conversion Processes, Biological Conversion Processes, Solid State
Composites, and Environmental & Policy Studies of Biomass Use. To maximize the
dissemination and impact of the courses, all of these customizable classes are being offered at no cost (open access website) to the national biomass and bioenergy community. The partnering
universities expect that BioSUCCEED will help to produce students who will contribute to the
innovation in biomass and bioenergy that is needed to allow them to be utilized more widely and
sustainably. Evaluation data on the current impact of BIOSUCCEED is provided.
Introduction
Biomass is a renewable and sustainable resource consisting of forest, agriculture, and organic-based materials (biomaterials=value-added biomass) that can be exploited to address current societal energy and materials needs in a manner similar to the current petroleum-based economic paradigm. A confluence of factors, including regional importance of biomass, current curricula, land grant and agricultural missions, regional energy policy issues, and existing collaborative arrangements have created a favorable environment for North Carolina State University (NCSU), North Carolina A&T State University (NCAT), and the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station (UT) to formally unite their efforts in the creation of an electronic, advanced degree program in biomass.
The College of Natural Resources (CNR) at NCSU has already identified products from biomass in
several components of its long-range strategic plans. This strategic plan identifies its Forest
Biomaterials and Biotechnology Initiative (FBBI) as a key growth area in terms of both research and instruction. NCSU has a number of Biomaterials courses that it regularly offers.1
NCAT has over the past few years begun to focus upon the development of interdisciplinary
graduate programs and initiated this past fall within its interdisciplinary Energy and
Environmental Systems graduate program a concentration in Sustainable Bio-products.2 This
concentration capitalizes on NCAT’s agriculture and engineering research strengths. The
BioSUCCEED initiative will help NCAT enhance its graduate course offerings in materials from
biomass and better educate a growing crop of students interested in this area.
The final partner, UT has a long, rich history of research and development activities in biomass
processing. Much of this effort has addressed development of agricultural practices for
sustainable production of bioenergy crops such as switchgrass and poplar. Considerable
expertise has been established around public policy issues, as well as techno-economic
considerations of biomass production. New research capabilities in molecular genetics, process
engineering, and feedstock preprocessing have been added. The US Southeastern SUNGRANT
Center headquartered at UT is one of the BioSUCCEED partners. The SunGrant Initiative is a
concept to solve America's energy needs and revitalize rural communities with land-grant
university research, education, and extension programs on renewable energy and biobased, nonfood
industries.3 The Southeastern Sun Grant Center coordinates activity in Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The
UT PI is the Center Director and has been actively involved in incorporating the mission of
BioSUCCEED in a number of initiatives at the Center.
The BioSUCCEED team has reduced instructional duplication and costs by jointly developing
and testing six graduate-level classes. All three of the partners have participated in the
development of these classes, and all of the classes are available to the biomass community
through a web-based distribution system.1 These classes serve as a template for other universities interested in developing their own curricula and degree programs; to be used as is or modified for individual needs. This approach of jointly developing and testing the classes, and offering them without cost to the community-at-large reduces the costs of others interested in developing similar classes, workshops, continuing education or degree programs.
Importance of Sustainable Bio-products Education
It is clear that bio-products, in the form of fuels, energy, chemical, and materials, offer a
significant opportunity for the U.S. to begin to develop domestic sources of non-petroleum
feedstocks. Actions by Congress and the President have defined bioproducts as an area of
national interest, e.g. Executive Order 13134 Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and
Bioenergy4, the Biomass Research and Development Act5 set targets and defined policies meant
to enhance research and development of biobased materials, etc. Both USDA and DOE have
identified bio-products as an important area for research and development and have issued a
series of joint RFPs in this area. But in addition to the research and development of bio-products, there is also a clear understanding that the large-scale production of biomass feedstocks will have an environmental and economic impact. The environmental impacts on soil, air and water can be minimized, or become more significant, depending on the specific application of the technology.
Thus, in addition to detailed discussions on the composition and characterization of biomass and
chemical and biological processes used to convert biomass to useful products, BioSUCCEED
addresses both the strengths and weaknesses of large scale collection and harvesting efforts of
biomass and residues.
Curriculum
The core courses that have been developed are:
1. Fundamentals of Biomaterials Science
2. Biomaterials Characterization
3. Thermal Conversion Processes
4. Biological Conversion Processes
5. Solid State Composites
6. Environmental & Policy Studies of Biomass Use
A number of modules or individual lectures have been developed in such a way that they are
well suited for stand-alone use. This is because it is very difficult to add an entire class to the already very full schedules common to many engineering and science degrees. Individual
lectures that use biomass to illustrate concepts in chemistry, biological, engineering, and
materials science can be added to the classes that are currently taught. Descriptions of each
course are provided in Table I.
Table I. BioSUCCEED Course Descriptions
Fundamentals of Biomaterials Science (NCSU LEAD): This course offers a fundamental
definition of the concepts of “biomaterials” and “biomass” and their relevance in our society. It provides an in-depth study of the core physical, chemical, and biological principles that underlie the synthesis and modification of biomaterials and associated biopolymers into novel materials.
Biomaterials Characterization (NCAT LEAD): The objective of this course is to describe the
analytical and spectroscopic techniques and tools available for examining molecular and
macroscopic structural features of naturally occurring materials with emphasis on the
lignocellulosic substrate. The learning outcomes for this course are designed to offer an
appreciation of the fundamentals operating behind the available methods. Furthermore, the
students will be able to understand the way these methods are applied toward addressing
chemical, physical and macroscopic properties of biomaterials.
Thermal Conversion Processes (NCSU LEAD): This learning outcome of this course is the
development of an understanding of the available methods and processes that are necessary to
convert biomass into usable chemicals and energy as part of a biorefinery concept. This work
will focus on the application of chemical and thermal processes that can convert biomass to
specific end products or to complex mixtures of materials such as syngas or pyrolysis oils.
Biological Conversion Processes (NCAT LEAD): The learning outcome focuses on the unique
advantage of biomass over fossil carbon feedstocks where biological processes can be used to
very selectively carry-out some transformations. This class also highlights challenges of
bioconversions in terms of cost, dewatering, and limited thermal and pH ranges.
Solid State Composites (UT LEAD): This course involves the physics and engineering required
for the manufacture of biocomposites from biomass. It focuses on the micromechanics of the
new composites by an emphasis on the physics of interfacial binding and the physical and
mechanical properties of biobased plastics and fibers.
Environmental & Policy Studies of Biomass Use (UT LEAD): The objective of this course is to
elucidate ways in which biomass technological principles impinge upon policy issues, including
lifecycle analysis (LCA), management issues, and public policy development. Learning modules
will be built around the study of various realistic cases, integrating principles that were explained more fully in the other courses in the series.
Open Access Delivery Model
BioSUCCEED has developed classes with technical input from several different departments at
three universities. Using an “open access” approach the classes were developed, taught and
improved several times so that the product offered to the biomass community is of high quality
and robust. The course material is built around a core of foundational information and concepts
the can be expected to remain highly relevant for years to come, but, as part of an open access
concept, will be updated as needed based on changes in knowledge. Case studies, which address
the most recent developments, are structured in such a way that they easily can be updated or
replaced as new technological approaches are developed. These courses contain separable
“modules” suitable for insertion into existing courses.
BioSUCCEED diverges from the most usual approaches to pedagogy. In the past, the field of
course development at the university level, has retained a high degree of individualism, with the faculty members largely supplying their own fresh content, but not sharing it outside of their own classroom or institution. The freshness and vitality of the many individual efforts, duplicated in different educational institutions, is not without cost, since isolated instruction cannot be expected to meet the urgent needs of society for instruction that is sufficiently broad, deep, and current.
About 5 years ago, the US DOE Agriculture Industries of the Future funded a Biomass
Educational effort. This effort led to the funding of projects at six universities and many good
results came from these efforts. However, the effort was eventually terminated due to very
limited propagation and dissemination of the classes or technology that were developed at the
individual universities to the community at large. To try to address this problem, BioSUCCEED
has committed to a free dissemination of the educational content developed.
The approach utilized can be compared to the development of open-source software. Because
the end goal is to provide course materials that can be made widely available, a policy of open
content sharing was practiced by the participating faculty and participating institutions. A
corollary of this approach is that each co-developer and user of the course content is free to make improvements, but such improvements are to be shared with the other users of the content,
leading to a process that can sustain itself beyond the life of the formal project. It is envisioned that this approach, part of an “open source” software concept, will lead to continual
improvements to the content.
The organizational structure utilized to develop the course materials is shown schematically in
Figure 1. The leadership team coordinated the inclusion of these new classes into the on-campus
and distance education programs at the different campuses. Each course, listed in the previous
subsection, had a lead faculty member and lead institution. The lead faculty member reported to
the leadership team and was the individual ultimately responsible for that class. The lead faculty member was responsible for monitoring the progress, quality, and academic content for the individual course, and incorporating changes as they were received. The content team included at least one individual from each institute. This team was responsible for evaluating the course content and providing feedback on its overall significance, relevance, and delivery style.
Figure 1: BioSUCCEED organizational structure.
Evaluation
Outcome and impacts from this work are being measured in several ways. The number of other
universities that adopt some or all of the classes will be the primary indicator of the overall
program impact. A secondary indicator of the program’s overall impact will be the number of
students who have taken classes developed by the program and have graduated in the graduate
programs that have been created.
Individuals desiring to access module material must first register to provide demographic
information. They are also encouraged to take pre- and post-surveys that include multiple choice
questions with stems such as:
≠ What does cradle to grave Life Cycle Analysis consider?
≠ What does biomass/bioenergy refer to?
≠ Which of the following is not renewable?
≠ What does carbon sequestration refer to?
≠ Which is not a step of inventory analysis according to ISO 14044?
≠ Which of the following are not one of the three main types of pollution?
≠ What does the term primary raw material mean?
A survey is linked on the BioSUCCEED website that provides feedback on the perceived impact
and importance of BioSUCCEED with questions such as:
≠ Based on the information that you have seen and understood in BioSUCCEED, its work,
and any documentation related to it, what difference in the marketability and
employability will there be for the following categories of personnel after completing the
coursework/materials in BioSUCCEED and offshoots of it?
≠ Has either BioSUCCEED or some offshoot of it influenced your ability to improve or
enhance your job performance/pay/advancement or those of people within your circle of
influence?
≠ Should the concept of BioSUCCEED be pursued in post-secondary learning
establishments?
Additional information on the impact of BioSUCCEED is being gathered from the level of
activity among social networking sites that include Facebook6 and a Blog.7
Conclusions
Over the past few months the first phase of the BioSUCCEED effort has been accomplished.
Course notes have been developed and posted on the BioSUCCEED website. New courses have
been approved at the three partner universities, and they are in the process of being taught for the first time. Preliminary data from the instruments outlined in the previous section indicate that students on the three partner campuses are being positively impacted by the BioSUCCEED
activities. The impact outside of the partners is not clearly established at this point.
Acknowledgments
The BioSUCCEED initiative is the result of the support of a “Higher Education Challenge Grant
with CREES/USDA” (Cooperative Grant No. 2006-38411-17035).
Bibliography
1. North Carolina State University (2010), http://www.ncsu.edu/biosucceed/index.html, Raleigh, NC.
2. North Carolina A&T State University (2010), http://www.ees.ncat.edu, Greensboro, NC.
3. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (2010), http://sungrant.tennessee.edu, Knoxville, TN.
4. Clinton, W.J. (1999), Executive Order 13134 - Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy,
Federal Registry 64(157), http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_
register&docid=fr16au99-145.pdf.
5. U.S. Congress (1999), HR 2819, Biomass Research and Development Act of 1999 and H.R. 2827, National
Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals Act of 1999, http://lccn.loc.gov/00329098.
6. North Carolina State University (2010), BioSUCCEED Facebook Page, http://www.facebook.com/
group.php?gid=396008630920, Raleigh, NC.
7. North Carolina State University (2010), BioSUCCEED Blog, http://biosucceed.blogspot.com, Raleigh, NC.
http://soa.asee.org/paper/conference/paper-view.cfm?id=24535
We have a conference publication as a result of this whose content is shown below. It does a really good job of explaining our program. Please let me know if you have any questions. Prof. Schimmel can be reached at: schimmel[at]NCAT[dot]edu.
AC 2010-1985: BIOSUCCEED: BIO-PRODUCTS SUSTAINABILITY, A
UNIVERSITY COOPERATIVE CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION
Keith Schimmel, North Carolina A&T State University
Keith Schimmel is Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Director of the Energy and
Environmental Ph.D. program, and Director of Education and Outreach for the NOAA
Interdisciplinary Scientific Environmental Technology Cooperative Science Center at North
Carolina A&T State University. He received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue
University. He also holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern
University.
Lucian Lucia, North Carolina State University
Lucian Lucia is Associate Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Wood & Paper Science at
North Carolina State University. Dr. Lucia received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from
the University of Florida.
Jianzhong Lou, North Carolina A&T State University
Jianzhong Lou is Professor of chemical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University. Dr.
Lou received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Zhejiang University of Technology.
He also holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Utah.
Abolghasem Shahbazi, North Carolina A&T State University
Ghasem Shahbazi is Professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at North Carolina A&T
State University. Dr. Shahbazi received his B.S. degree in agricultural engineering from the
University of Tabriz. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural engineering from the
University of California, Davis and Pennsylvania State University, respectively.
Timothy Rials, University of Tennessee
Tim Rials is Professor & Director of the Southeastern Regional Sun Grant at the University of
Tennessee Agricultural Campus Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries. Dr. Rials
received his B.S. in Forestry from Mississippi State University. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are in Wood Science & Technology from Virginia Tech.
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010
BioSUCCEED: Bio-products Sustainability, a University
Cooperative Center for Excellence in Education
Abstract
Three land-grant universities have identified mutual and complementary interests for the pursuit
of an academic program in biomaterials and bioenergy, Bio-products Sustainability, a University
Cooperative Center for Excellence in Education (BioSUCCEED). BioSUCEED's innovation is
based on the development of graduate-level programmatic modules that can be delivered by any
of the three University partners. The initiative has been developing content for six biomass and
bioenergy related classes: Fundamentals of Biomaterials Science, Biomaterials
Characterization, Thermal Conversion Processes, Biological Conversion Processes, Solid State
Composites, and Environmental & Policy Studies of Biomass Use. To maximize the
dissemination and impact of the courses, all of these customizable classes are being offered at no cost (open access website) to the national biomass and bioenergy community. The partnering
universities expect that BioSUCCEED will help to produce students who will contribute to the
innovation in biomass and bioenergy that is needed to allow them to be utilized more widely and
sustainably. Evaluation data on the current impact of BIOSUCCEED is provided.
Introduction
Biomass is a renewable and sustainable resource consisting of forest, agriculture, and organic-based materials (biomaterials=value-added biomass) that can be exploited to address current societal energy and materials needs in a manner similar to the current petroleum-based economic paradigm. A confluence of factors, including regional importance of biomass, current curricula, land grant and agricultural missions, regional energy policy issues, and existing collaborative arrangements have created a favorable environment for North Carolina State University (NCSU), North Carolina A&T State University (NCAT), and the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station (UT) to formally unite their efforts in the creation of an electronic, advanced degree program in biomass.
The College of Natural Resources (CNR) at NCSU has already identified products from biomass in
several components of its long-range strategic plans. This strategic plan identifies its Forest
Biomaterials and Biotechnology Initiative (FBBI) as a key growth area in terms of both research and instruction. NCSU has a number of Biomaterials courses that it regularly offers.1
NCAT has over the past few years begun to focus upon the development of interdisciplinary
graduate programs and initiated this past fall within its interdisciplinary Energy and
Environmental Systems graduate program a concentration in Sustainable Bio-products.2 This
concentration capitalizes on NCAT’s agriculture and engineering research strengths. The
BioSUCCEED initiative will help NCAT enhance its graduate course offerings in materials from
biomass and better educate a growing crop of students interested in this area.
The final partner, UT has a long, rich history of research and development activities in biomass
processing. Much of this effort has addressed development of agricultural practices for
sustainable production of bioenergy crops such as switchgrass and poplar. Considerable
expertise has been established around public policy issues, as well as techno-economic
considerations of biomass production. New research capabilities in molecular genetics, process
engineering, and feedstock preprocessing have been added. The US Southeastern SUNGRANT
Center headquartered at UT is one of the BioSUCCEED partners. The SunGrant Initiative is a
concept to solve America's energy needs and revitalize rural communities with land-grant
university research, education, and extension programs on renewable energy and biobased, nonfood
industries.3 The Southeastern Sun Grant Center coordinates activity in Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The
UT PI is the Center Director and has been actively involved in incorporating the mission of
BioSUCCEED in a number of initiatives at the Center.
The BioSUCCEED team has reduced instructional duplication and costs by jointly developing
and testing six graduate-level classes. All three of the partners have participated in the
development of these classes, and all of the classes are available to the biomass community
through a web-based distribution system.1 These classes serve as a template for other universities interested in developing their own curricula and degree programs; to be used as is or modified for individual needs. This approach of jointly developing and testing the classes, and offering them without cost to the community-at-large reduces the costs of others interested in developing similar classes, workshops, continuing education or degree programs.
Importance of Sustainable Bio-products Education
It is clear that bio-products, in the form of fuels, energy, chemical, and materials, offer a
significant opportunity for the U.S. to begin to develop domestic sources of non-petroleum
feedstocks. Actions by Congress and the President have defined bioproducts as an area of
national interest, e.g. Executive Order 13134 Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and
Bioenergy4, the Biomass Research and Development Act5 set targets and defined policies meant
to enhance research and development of biobased materials, etc. Both USDA and DOE have
identified bio-products as an important area for research and development and have issued a
series of joint RFPs in this area. But in addition to the research and development of bio-products, there is also a clear understanding that the large-scale production of biomass feedstocks will have an environmental and economic impact. The environmental impacts on soil, air and water can be minimized, or become more significant, depending on the specific application of the technology.
Thus, in addition to detailed discussions on the composition and characterization of biomass and
chemical and biological processes used to convert biomass to useful products, BioSUCCEED
addresses both the strengths and weaknesses of large scale collection and harvesting efforts of
biomass and residues.
Curriculum
The core courses that have been developed are:
1. Fundamentals of Biomaterials Science
2. Biomaterials Characterization
3. Thermal Conversion Processes
4. Biological Conversion Processes
5. Solid State Composites
6. Environmental & Policy Studies of Biomass Use
A number of modules or individual lectures have been developed in such a way that they are
well suited for stand-alone use. This is because it is very difficult to add an entire class to the already very full schedules common to many engineering and science degrees. Individual
lectures that use biomass to illustrate concepts in chemistry, biological, engineering, and
materials science can be added to the classes that are currently taught. Descriptions of each
course are provided in Table I.
Table I. BioSUCCEED Course Descriptions
Fundamentals of Biomaterials Science (NCSU LEAD): This course offers a fundamental
definition of the concepts of “biomaterials” and “biomass” and their relevance in our society. It provides an in-depth study of the core physical, chemical, and biological principles that underlie the synthesis and modification of biomaterials and associated biopolymers into novel materials.
Biomaterials Characterization (NCAT LEAD): The objective of this course is to describe the
analytical and spectroscopic techniques and tools available for examining molecular and
macroscopic structural features of naturally occurring materials with emphasis on the
lignocellulosic substrate. The learning outcomes for this course are designed to offer an
appreciation of the fundamentals operating behind the available methods. Furthermore, the
students will be able to understand the way these methods are applied toward addressing
chemical, physical and macroscopic properties of biomaterials.
Thermal Conversion Processes (NCSU LEAD): This learning outcome of this course is the
development of an understanding of the available methods and processes that are necessary to
convert biomass into usable chemicals and energy as part of a biorefinery concept. This work
will focus on the application of chemical and thermal processes that can convert biomass to
specific end products or to complex mixtures of materials such as syngas or pyrolysis oils.
Biological Conversion Processes (NCAT LEAD): The learning outcome focuses on the unique
advantage of biomass over fossil carbon feedstocks where biological processes can be used to
very selectively carry-out some transformations. This class also highlights challenges of
bioconversions in terms of cost, dewatering, and limited thermal and pH ranges.
Solid State Composites (UT LEAD): This course involves the physics and engineering required
for the manufacture of biocomposites from biomass. It focuses on the micromechanics of the
new composites by an emphasis on the physics of interfacial binding and the physical and
mechanical properties of biobased plastics and fibers.
Environmental & Policy Studies of Biomass Use (UT LEAD): The objective of this course is to
elucidate ways in which biomass technological principles impinge upon policy issues, including
lifecycle analysis (LCA), management issues, and public policy development. Learning modules
will be built around the study of various realistic cases, integrating principles that were explained more fully in the other courses in the series.
Open Access Delivery Model
BioSUCCEED has developed classes with technical input from several different departments at
three universities. Using an “open access” approach the classes were developed, taught and
improved several times so that the product offered to the biomass community is of high quality
and robust. The course material is built around a core of foundational information and concepts
the can be expected to remain highly relevant for years to come, but, as part of an open access
concept, will be updated as needed based on changes in knowledge. Case studies, which address
the most recent developments, are structured in such a way that they easily can be updated or
replaced as new technological approaches are developed. These courses contain separable
“modules” suitable for insertion into existing courses.
BioSUCCEED diverges from the most usual approaches to pedagogy. In the past, the field of
course development at the university level, has retained a high degree of individualism, with the faculty members largely supplying their own fresh content, but not sharing it outside of their own classroom or institution. The freshness and vitality of the many individual efforts, duplicated in different educational institutions, is not without cost, since isolated instruction cannot be expected to meet the urgent needs of society for instruction that is sufficiently broad, deep, and current.
About 5 years ago, the US DOE Agriculture Industries of the Future funded a Biomass
Educational effort. This effort led to the funding of projects at six universities and many good
results came from these efforts. However, the effort was eventually terminated due to very
limited propagation and dissemination of the classes or technology that were developed at the
individual universities to the community at large. To try to address this problem, BioSUCCEED
has committed to a free dissemination of the educational content developed.
The approach utilized can be compared to the development of open-source software. Because
the end goal is to provide course materials that can be made widely available, a policy of open
content sharing was practiced by the participating faculty and participating institutions. A
corollary of this approach is that each co-developer and user of the course content is free to make improvements, but such improvements are to be shared with the other users of the content,
leading to a process that can sustain itself beyond the life of the formal project. It is envisioned that this approach, part of an “open source” software concept, will lead to continual
improvements to the content.
The organizational structure utilized to develop the course materials is shown schematically in
Figure 1. The leadership team coordinated the inclusion of these new classes into the on-campus
and distance education programs at the different campuses. Each course, listed in the previous
subsection, had a lead faculty member and lead institution. The lead faculty member reported to
the leadership team and was the individual ultimately responsible for that class. The lead faculty member was responsible for monitoring the progress, quality, and academic content for the individual course, and incorporating changes as they were received. The content team included at least one individual from each institute. This team was responsible for evaluating the course content and providing feedback on its overall significance, relevance, and delivery style.
Figure 1: BioSUCCEED organizational structure.
Evaluation
Outcome and impacts from this work are being measured in several ways. The number of other
universities that adopt some or all of the classes will be the primary indicator of the overall
program impact. A secondary indicator of the program’s overall impact will be the number of
students who have taken classes developed by the program and have graduated in the graduate
programs that have been created.
Individuals desiring to access module material must first register to provide demographic
information. They are also encouraged to take pre- and post-surveys that include multiple choice
questions with stems such as:
≠ What does cradle to grave Life Cycle Analysis consider?
≠ What does biomass/bioenergy refer to?
≠ Which of the following is not renewable?
≠ What does carbon sequestration refer to?
≠ Which is not a step of inventory analysis according to ISO 14044?
≠ Which of the following are not one of the three main types of pollution?
≠ What does the term primary raw material mean?
A survey is linked on the BioSUCCEED website that provides feedback on the perceived impact
and importance of BioSUCCEED with questions such as:
≠ Based on the information that you have seen and understood in BioSUCCEED, its work,
and any documentation related to it, what difference in the marketability and
employability will there be for the following categories of personnel after completing the
coursework/materials in BioSUCCEED and offshoots of it?
≠ Has either BioSUCCEED or some offshoot of it influenced your ability to improve or
enhance your job performance/pay/advancement or those of people within your circle of
influence?
≠ Should the concept of BioSUCCEED be pursued in post-secondary learning
establishments?
Additional information on the impact of BioSUCCEED is being gathered from the level of
activity among social networking sites that include Facebook6 and a Blog.7
Conclusions
Over the past few months the first phase of the BioSUCCEED effort has been accomplished.
Course notes have been developed and posted on the BioSUCCEED website. New courses have
been approved at the three partner universities, and they are in the process of being taught for the first time. Preliminary data from the instruments outlined in the previous section indicate that students on the three partner campuses are being positively impacted by the BioSUCCEED
activities. The impact outside of the partners is not clearly established at this point.
Acknowledgments
The BioSUCCEED initiative is the result of the support of a “Higher Education Challenge Grant
with CREES/USDA” (Cooperative Grant No. 2006-38411-17035).
Bibliography
1. North Carolina State University (2010), http://www.ncsu.edu/biosucceed/index.html, Raleigh, NC.
2. North Carolina A&T State University (2010), http://www.ees.ncat.edu, Greensboro, NC.
3. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (2010), http://sungrant.tennessee.edu, Knoxville, TN.
4. Clinton, W.J. (1999), Executive Order 13134 - Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy,
Federal Registry 64(157), http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_
register&docid=fr16au99-145.pdf.
5. U.S. Congress (1999), HR 2819, Biomass Research and Development Act of 1999 and H.R. 2827, National
Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals Act of 1999, http://lccn.loc.gov/00329098.
6. North Carolina State University (2010), BioSUCCEED Facebook Page, http://www.facebook.com/
group.php?gid=396008630920, Raleigh, NC.
7. North Carolina State University (2010), BioSUCCEED Blog, http://biosucceed.blogspot.com, Raleigh, NC.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
All Educational/Research Sessions at Green Chemistry Conference in D.C. 21-23 June 2010
Oral Session
Education - AM Session
Green Chemistry Education: Resources and Materials for Undergraduate and K-12 Level
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
Sponsored by: GC&E: Green Chemistry & Engineering
Organizers: Amy Cannon, Rachel Pokrandt
Duration: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Pub # Presentation Title
12 Green Engineering in the High School Setting: Non existent or a disaster waiting to happen.
Co-Director of K12 C Rachel Pokrandt
13 Green chemistry and engineering course for Yale/New Haven's summer SCHOLAR program
Dr. Sarah M Miller
14 Breaking the Toxic Addiction: Moving Schools to Sustainable, Green Chemistry
Senior Scientist Dwight G Peavey PhD
15 Blending Sustainability and Additional Green Chemistry into Chemistry in Context
Michael Cann
16 4 continents, 8 Green Chemistries: modifying Green Chemistry curriculum to fit international education standards and to connect with K-12 students around the world.
Co-Director of K-12 Brooke Carson
17 Green chemistry education materials: History of developmentand impacts of adoption
Julie A. Haack PhD, Professor Susan Sutheimer, Assistant Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Assistant Professor Andrew Nelson, Andrew Earle, Doug Young, Professor James E. Hutchison
GC&E Monday, June 21, 2010
Oral Session
Education - PM Session
Green Chemistry Education: Multi-Disciplinary and Collaborative Approaches
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
Sponsored by: GC&E: Green Chemistry & Engineering
Organizers: Amy Cannon, Tracey Easthope
Duration: 1:30 pm - 4:10 pm
Pub # Presentation Title
32 How to start a state-supported Green Chemistry program: The Michigan model
Tracey A. Easthope MPH
33 Challenging Student Research in New Directions - Building aStudent Green Chemistry Network in the Great Lakes
Lin Kaatz Chary PhD, MPH
34 Students' views on building a green chemistry network
Scott Klaas, Shane McGrath, Anthony Montoya, Ryan Nelson, Jody Wycech, Dr. Dalila G. Kovacs
35 Beyond Benign Outreach Fellows Program: Empowering college students to be green chemistry ambassadors
Ms. Raksmey Derival, Ms. Kate Anderson
36 Sustainable Technologies Administration: Moving Toward a Sustainable Economy
Michael Cann
37 Current green chemistry education in Taiwan
Professor Lou-sing Kan Ph. D.
38 Green chemistry and engineering training at the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis
Claudia J. Bode PhD, Bala Subramaniam PhD, Darryl Fahey PhD
39 BioSUCCEED: A USDA Cooperative Agreement that promotes Bioproducts Sustainability to meet Biomaterials & Bioenergy Needs in the Future Bio-based Economy
Associate Professor Lucian A Lucia Ph.D., Associate Professor Xiaodong Cao Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow Ilari Filpponen Ph.D., Professor Martin A. Hubbe Ph.D., Professor Hasan Jameel Ph.D., Professor Steven S. Kelley Ph.D., Professor Timothy G. Rials Ph.D., Professor Keith A. Schimmel Ph.D., Professor Richard A. Venditti Ph.D.
GC&E Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Oral Session
Education - AM Session
Green Chemistry Education at the Undergraduate and Graduate Level
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
Sponsored by: GC&E: Green Chemistry & Engineering
Organizers: Amy Cannon, Julie Haack, Mary Kirchhoff
Duration: 10:00 am - 12:20 pm
Pub # Presentation Title
60 Green chemistry education: Shades of green
Mary M Kirchhoff PhD
61 Teaching a Green Chemistry Course for Undergraduate Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Students
Professor Donald J Darensbourg PhD
62 Advancing integration of green chemistry in current science education through add-on courses
Dr. Anju Srivastava PhD, Dr. Reena Jain PhD
63 Open bench-top Heck reaction in water: A new green experiment for the undergraduate organic laboratory
Carl S. Lecher PhD, Sinead Miller
64 Teaching environmentally benign extraction technologieswith a cost effective, user friendly instrument
Rolf Schlake, Al Kaziunas
65 Content and methodology in green chemistry education: Grand Valley State University, MI
Dr. Dalila G. Kovacs
66 Educational initiatives of Green Chemistry Network Centre (GCNC) in India
Professor Rakesh K Sharma PhD
Education - AM Session
Green Chemistry Education: Resources and Materials for Undergraduate and K-12 Level
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
Sponsored by: GC&E: Green Chemistry & Engineering
Organizers: Amy Cannon, Rachel Pokrandt
Duration: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Pub # Presentation Title
12 Green Engineering in the High School Setting: Non existent or a disaster waiting to happen.
Co-Director of K12 C Rachel Pokrandt
13 Green chemistry and engineering course for Yale/New Haven's summer SCHOLAR program
Dr. Sarah M Miller
14 Breaking the Toxic Addiction: Moving Schools to Sustainable, Green Chemistry
Senior Scientist Dwight G Peavey PhD
15 Blending Sustainability and Additional Green Chemistry into Chemistry in Context
Michael Cann
16 4 continents, 8 Green Chemistries: modifying Green Chemistry curriculum to fit international education standards and to connect with K-12 students around the world.
Co-Director of K-12 Brooke Carson
17 Green chemistry education materials: History of developmentand impacts of adoption
Julie A. Haack PhD, Professor Susan Sutheimer, Assistant Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Assistant Professor Andrew Nelson, Andrew Earle, Doug Young, Professor James E. Hutchison
GC&E Monday, June 21, 2010
Oral Session
Education - PM Session
Green Chemistry Education: Multi-Disciplinary and Collaborative Approaches
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
Sponsored by: GC&E: Green Chemistry & Engineering
Organizers: Amy Cannon, Tracey Easthope
Duration: 1:30 pm - 4:10 pm
Pub # Presentation Title
32 How to start a state-supported Green Chemistry program: The Michigan model
Tracey A. Easthope MPH
33 Challenging Student Research in New Directions - Building aStudent Green Chemistry Network in the Great Lakes
Lin Kaatz Chary PhD, MPH
34 Students' views on building a green chemistry network
Scott Klaas, Shane McGrath, Anthony Montoya, Ryan Nelson, Jody Wycech, Dr. Dalila G. Kovacs
35 Beyond Benign Outreach Fellows Program: Empowering college students to be green chemistry ambassadors
Ms. Raksmey Derival, Ms. Kate Anderson
36 Sustainable Technologies Administration: Moving Toward a Sustainable Economy
Michael Cann
37 Current green chemistry education in Taiwan
Professor Lou-sing Kan Ph. D.
38 Green chemistry and engineering training at the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis
Claudia J. Bode PhD, Bala Subramaniam PhD, Darryl Fahey PhD
39 BioSUCCEED: A USDA Cooperative Agreement that promotes Bioproducts Sustainability to meet Biomaterials & Bioenergy Needs in the Future Bio-based Economy
Associate Professor Lucian A Lucia Ph.D., Associate Professor Xiaodong Cao Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow Ilari Filpponen Ph.D., Professor Martin A. Hubbe Ph.D., Professor Hasan Jameel Ph.D., Professor Steven S. Kelley Ph.D., Professor Timothy G. Rials Ph.D., Professor Keith A. Schimmel Ph.D., Professor Richard A. Venditti Ph.D.
GC&E Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Oral Session
Education - AM Session
Green Chemistry Education at the Undergraduate and Graduate Level
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
Sponsored by: GC&E: Green Chemistry & Engineering
Organizers: Amy Cannon, Julie Haack, Mary Kirchhoff
Duration: 10:00 am - 12:20 pm
Pub # Presentation Title
60 Green chemistry education: Shades of green
Mary M Kirchhoff PhD
61 Teaching a Green Chemistry Course for Undergraduate Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Students
Professor Donald J Darensbourg PhD
62 Advancing integration of green chemistry in current science education through add-on courses
Dr. Anju Srivastava PhD, Dr. Reena Jain PhD
63 Open bench-top Heck reaction in water: A new green experiment for the undergraduate organic laboratory
Carl S. Lecher PhD, Sinead Miller
64 Teaching environmentally benign extraction technologieswith a cost effective, user friendly instrument
Rolf Schlake, Al Kaziunas
65 Content and methodology in green chemistry education: Grand Valley State University, MI
Dr. Dalila G. Kovacs
66 Educational initiatives of Green Chemistry Network Centre (GCNC) in India
Professor Rakesh K Sharma PhD
BioSUCCEED Presentation Information at 14th Annual Green Chemistry Conference
GC&E Monday, June 21, 2010
39 - BioSUCCEED: A USDA Cooperative Agreement that promotes Bioproducts Sustainability to meet Biomaterials & Bioenergy Needs in the Future Bio-based Economy
Associate Professor Lucian A Lucia Ph.D., Associate Professor Xiaodong Cao Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow Ilari Filpponen Ph.D., Professor Martin A. Hubbe Ph.D., Professor Hasan Jameel Ph.D., Professor Steven S. Kelley Ph.D., Professor Timothy G. Rials Ph.D., Professor Keith A. Schimmel Ph.D., Professor Richard A. Venditti Ph.D.. Wood & Paper Science North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina United States, Chemical Engineering North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University Greensboro North Carolina United States, Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries University of Tennessee Agricultural Campus Knoxville Tennessee United States, School of Biological Science and Engineering South China University of Technology Guangzhou Guangdong China
BIOSUCCEED: BIOproducts Sustainability, a University Cooperative Center for Excellence in Education (ncsu.edu/biosucceed) is a virtual center of excellence to provide educational tools for public interest in the "green" economy. Recently, we provided a programmatic review at the Spring 2010 National ACS Meeting discussing our mission, goals, and modules. BioSUCEED is aligned with ongoing curriculum development at NCSU, NCAT, and UT. For example, NCSU started a campus-wide biomass & bioenergy initiative, NCAT has a new interdisciplinary Energy and Environmental Studies graduate program and new undergraduate thematic clusters that emphasize emerging technologies, and UT is leading a regional SUNGRANT program (sungrant.tennessee.edu). In this presentation, we will review some of the key concepts already discussed and provide new concepts developed in the biomaterial chemistry of cellulose. We will discuss some of the powerful biomaterials & bioenergy manufacturing and analytical techniques that have arisen from our teaching laboratory work including electrospinning, GC analysis of fermentation of biomass, and development of new biomaterials. All of the information is freely available at the website for use in academic, industrial, or governmental settings. The partnering universities expect that BioSUCCEED will produce students to galvanize the biomass & bioenergy paradigmatic shift from the petroleum-dominated landscape to one based on renewable feedstocks. Ultimately, increased involvement in the mission of BioSUCCEED will provide educated personnel that will maintain environmental compatibility and allow local economies to flourish.
Monday, June 21, 2010 03:50 PM
Education (01:30 PM - 04:10 PM)
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
39 - BioSUCCEED: A USDA Cooperative Agreement that promotes Bioproducts Sustainability to meet Biomaterials & Bioenergy Needs in the Future Bio-based Economy
Associate Professor Lucian A Lucia Ph.D., Associate Professor Xiaodong Cao Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow Ilari Filpponen Ph.D., Professor Martin A. Hubbe Ph.D., Professor Hasan Jameel Ph.D., Professor Steven S. Kelley Ph.D., Professor Timothy G. Rials Ph.D., Professor Keith A. Schimmel Ph.D., Professor Richard A. Venditti Ph.D.. Wood & Paper Science North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina United States, Chemical Engineering North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University Greensboro North Carolina United States, Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries University of Tennessee Agricultural Campus Knoxville Tennessee United States, School of Biological Science and Engineering South China University of Technology Guangzhou Guangdong China
BIOSUCCEED: BIOproducts Sustainability, a University Cooperative Center for Excellence in Education (ncsu.edu/biosucceed) is a virtual center of excellence to provide educational tools for public interest in the "green" economy. Recently, we provided a programmatic review at the Spring 2010 National ACS Meeting discussing our mission, goals, and modules. BioSUCEED is aligned with ongoing curriculum development at NCSU, NCAT, and UT. For example, NCSU started a campus-wide biomass & bioenergy initiative, NCAT has a new interdisciplinary Energy and Environmental Studies graduate program and new undergraduate thematic clusters that emphasize emerging technologies, and UT is leading a regional SUNGRANT program (sungrant.tennessee.edu). In this presentation, we will review some of the key concepts already discussed and provide new concepts developed in the biomaterial chemistry of cellulose. We will discuss some of the powerful biomaterials & bioenergy manufacturing and analytical techniques that have arisen from our teaching laboratory work including electrospinning, GC analysis of fermentation of biomass, and development of new biomaterials. All of the information is freely available at the website for use in academic, industrial, or governmental settings. The partnering universities expect that BioSUCCEED will produce students to galvanize the biomass & bioenergy paradigmatic shift from the petroleum-dominated landscape to one based on renewable feedstocks. Ultimately, increased involvement in the mission of BioSUCCEED will provide educated personnel that will maintain environmental compatibility and allow local economies to flourish.
Monday, June 21, 2010 03:50 PM
Education (01:30 PM - 04:10 PM)
Location: Capital Hilton
Room: Federal B
Thursday, June 17, 2010
14th Annual Green Chemistry Conference Presentation
We have been busily working away at crafting another presentation in our list of conferences and proceedings to advertise our efforts in BioSUCCEED. This one will be a lot of fun because we are targeting green chemists/engineers; those folks who are looking at environmentally alternative ways to improve our society. I will ask for survey input and also their involvement in the "clickers" work that had been so successful at the ACS Meeting in San Francisco. Please let me know if you have any questions about the content and/or the clicker section.
Monday, May 3, 2010
New Papers on the Way and a Book!!!
We have been busy publishing the results of our work in BioSUCCEED in various journals. We have submitted an article to the Journal of Chemical Education, ChemSusChem, and are preparing at least two more for our effort. Although our funding is diminishing, we have put a lot of time, energy, and resources into the efforts of BioSUCCEED. In fact, Wiley has agreed to publish a book on the topics that we have developed. We already have four authors on board - Schimmel (NCAT), Venditti & Hubbe (NCSU), and are hopeful to have a few more soon. Sarah Hall will be working with us on this major effort. Wish us luck!!!
Monday, April 19, 2010
World Bioenergy
One of the fans of our Facebook BioSUCCEED page gave me some information that I would like to direct all bloggers to visit: There is an international organization that will help to spead the benefits of the biomass for energy in the world. Take a look at: http://www.worldbioenergy.org. Send me your opinions and thoughts on this site. Is it meaningful to you? Will it make a difference in your life?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
239th ACS Conference (San Francisco) Contacts
I made two valuable contacts in San Francisco at the CHEM ED DIV Symposium I attended. The contacts are: Prof. Dalila Kovacs, Ph.D. (Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI) and Amy Cannon, Ph.D. (beyondbenign/a warner babcock foundation) who have a lot of good stuff going on. I am going to contact my colleague Elizabeth Scharpf who works in SHE for the benefit of underprivileged women around the world. It is an exciting time!
ACS Green Chemistry and Pacifi-Chem Conferences Here We Come!!!
It appears that our USDA BioSUCCEED program will have at least some share of the limelight in other international Conferences. We just received word that our papers submitted to these two additional ACS Conferences have been accepted! I am elated at this news. We will have in total another four papers from the Group here at NC State University to advertise the work that we have been doing in biomass & bioenergy research and education. Wish us luck!!!! The Conference coming up immediately is the 14th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference which is to be held from June 21-23 (2010) in Washington, D.C. Please go to: www.GCandE.org for more information!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Success! BioSUCCEED succeeds!!!
We had an excellent time during the CHEM ED Division symposium that was chaired by Professor Dalila Kovacs. We had a room full of guests from all walks of life who were primarily interested in topics related to teaching, research, and education. I was inspired by the number and interest shown by the people in the room. Although I could not record it in video format, I was able to provide a roughly 30 minute presentation on our program with the survey that used clickers. It was completely fun and exciting! I was able to show everyone the incredible coincidental advertisement of a book on clickers. I think that we should buy this book to help us use the clicker technology for increased audience participation.
In general, we had a great time sharing, learning, and having fun. BioSUCCEED had a great debut amongst the folks in the crowd (20 including me).
In general, we had a great time sharing, learning, and having fun. BioSUCCEED had a great debut amongst the folks in the crowd (20 including me).
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Tomorrow is the national viewing of our products
Everyone: I have the distinct pleasure to announce that tomorrow we officially unveil the BioSUCCEED product and invite all interested parties to participate. I will try to record the lecture (it will be 20 minutes) on facebook, invite folks to participate in our survey, showcase our course materials, tell them about the potential seminar next year in Chem. Ed. on this topic (Renewable Materials), indicate the possibility of a text book on BioSUCCEED, invite participation on the blog, e-mail questions, give me testimonials on the value of the materials, give them my cards, give them the presentation materials, and encourage them to have friends visit our materials. I hope that we can make a difference in peoples' lives!
Here in San Francisco
Yayyyyyy, I have been here in San Francisco for two days and was only able to get on the internet now! Apparently, there is NO wireless here at the Hilton SF and the ethernet cable did NOT work. So I have missed blogging since I arrived. Anyway, I was able to involve BioSUCCEED in the CELL Division Board as a partner for their main activities, i.e., in promoting their themes of sustainability (this year's ACS Conference theme) and renewability (next years). I think that I will organize a session on BioSUCCEED for next year's CHEM ED Division to promote the concepts as well as we can with as much participation as possible. I have written a professor who is the organizer for our Symposium (Green Chemistry, Sustainability, and Education: Collaborative Projects and Interdisciplinary Outcomes) to find out how I can set one up. I think it will be great fun! I set up a blog on ACS' blog site, but I am not sure if it will get much traffic. We will see! However, I think ACS will be a great avenue to help me spread more widely our net of BioSUCCEED and catch more people.
I was enthralled that we may be able to write a book on the topical matter. Sarah at Wiley & Sons will likely help us do it. It will consist of 7 chapters on the 7 modules that we have in our course. I think that it will definitely be a classic for this area of biomass & bionergy. Let's see how it turns out!
I was enthralled that we may be able to write a book on the topical matter. Sarah at Wiley & Sons will likely help us do it. It will consist of 7 chapters on the 7 modules that we have in our course. I think that it will definitely be a classic for this area of biomass & bionergy. Let's see how it turns out!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Our BioSUCCEED presentation
To our Friends,
I have completed our BioSUCCEED presentation and will be posting it soon on our Facebook site. I am very happy, too, that we will be able to demonstrate a new technology in learning that uses "Clickers," or hand-held devices that allow anonymous audience participation in a series of questions. I am looking forward to showing them off! However, wow, there are a lot to port with me to San Francisco! I will Dr. Rojas' projector, the clickers, my laptop, and my clothes. Phew...I will need to put it on the plane probably!!!
Okay, I will sign off until I arrive in San Francisco!
I have completed our BioSUCCEED presentation and will be posting it soon on our Facebook site. I am very happy, too, that we will be able to demonstrate a new technology in learning that uses "Clickers," or hand-held devices that allow anonymous audience participation in a series of questions. I am looking forward to showing them off! However, wow, there are a lot to port with me to San Francisco! I will Dr. Rojas' projector, the clickers, my laptop, and my clothes. Phew...I will need to put it on the plane probably!!!
Okay, I will sign off until I arrive in San Francisco!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Group Meeting Laboratory of Soft Materials & Green Chemistry
Today we discussed the importance of safe practices when learning in the laboratory. Always wear your safety goggles whenever you are in the lab. Promote a culture of safety and responsibility so that whenever a problem happens, you are ready! Also, we discussed the value of an SEC-MALLS setup and the intricacies of the MALLS. It was a very good session; we focused on a number of important items that we had not touched upon before with respect to analyzing molecular masses, radii of gyration, and second virial coefficients.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Multi-Angle Laser Light Scattering (MALLS)
Today we found out that the scintillation vial method for the MALLS is becoming a reality. We are getting closer and closer to the final software control of the instrument. The hardware is working great, we just need to calibrate the MALLS and the Wyatt Optilab DSP Interferometric RI instrument. I am hopeful that CARLOS & LAURA will be able to set these up. Given all of the demands on my time, I can't spend much more time on it. I am keeping my fingers crossed that these instruments are set up. This will be an ideal way to obtain polymer molecular weight data for our educational work. We will be able to instruct not only graduate students, but undergraduates, and high school students (Environmentees). These days it will be important to characterize the materials that we are working with and it will be simple enough to do that once CARLOS & LAURA set it up...
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The ACS MEETING IS FAST APPROACHING!
We have about 2 weeks before the Conference begins and I am getting ready with presentations and CELL DIVISION activities. I am hopeful that we can take a lot of photos and post them on our facebook site. I am very excited to be going to San Francisco for the 239th ACS Meeting. It is truly historic to think that this meeting is devoted to SUSTAINABILITY! A topic right up our alley!
Monday, March 8, 2010
www.biosucceed.com
We have a domain name that has been inactive for the last couple of years while we trying to fill our site with content. We are nearly there! So it is time now to point that wonderful, sweet domain name to it. We are writing articles and providing presentations that we hope will take advantage of that name. My colleagues at UT will help in making the .com site active by pointing it to our content at www.ncsu.edu/biosucceed. I am thrilled to know that will be happening and that we will have a really wonderful site on which to build for the future. This site will help us in promoting this burgeoning field of renewables for at least our lifetimes. It will serve us in our extension, outreach, distance ed., new course development, and broader impacts. It will help us attract funding, collaborate with people, and broadcast our mission to the world. I am very excited!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
BioSUCCEED is now on Facebook!
FACEBOOK NETWORKING
Given the overwhelming success of Facebook in our lives, I decided to start a Group on Facebook that will serve as a forum for all interested in the emerging areas of bioenergy & biomass. It will primarily be used as a discussion board, event calendar, and random news/thoughts network. We can direct people to the surveys, coursework, papers, and other associated media produced from BioSUCCEED. I hope that we can have a number of "Friends" join us! You can find the Group at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=396008630920
Please come join the Group if you have any interest in thesse burgeoning science & engineering arenas.
Thanks!
Given the overwhelming success of Facebook in our lives, I decided to start a Group on Facebook that will serve as a forum for all interested in the emerging areas of bioenergy & biomass. It will primarily be used as a discussion board, event calendar, and random news/thoughts network. We can direct people to the surveys, coursework, papers, and other associated media produced from BioSUCCEED. I hope that we can have a number of "Friends" join us! You can find the Group at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=396008630920
Please come join the Group if you have any interest in thesse burgeoning science & engineering arenas.
Thanks!
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