Berkeleyan

EBI launches fall biofuels seminar series

03 September 2008

The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) has begun a new, biweekly seminar series this semester focusing on areas of importance within the biofuel field. Each seminar will take place on a Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. in 116 Calvin Laboratory. The talks are open to anyone on campus interested in the biosciences, and particularly to participants in the EBI research programs. Speakers will include program managers, principal investigators, and senior postdocs.

• Sept. 9: Manfred Auer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) microscopist working on imaging of the plant cell wall;
• Sept. 23: Paul Adams, of LBNL’s Physical Biosciences Division, and Jim Schuck, of its Materials Sciences Division, studying the chemical imaging of plant biomass;
• Oct. 7: Choaguang Tian, postdoc in microbiologist Louise Glass’ Berkeley lab, where they are exploring fungal deconstruction of lignin in Miscanthus cell walls;
• Oct. 21: David Zilberman, Berkeley agricultural economist, researching the economics of biofuel adoption and impacts;
• Nov. 18: Norm Miller, earth scientist at Berkeley and LBNL, working on biofuel productivity potentials for economic analysis;
• Nov. 25: Matthias Hess, postdoc with geneticist Eddy Rubin at the Joint Genome Institute, studying microbes in bovine rumen to identify cellulolytic genes;
• Dec. 9: Arpad Horvath, Berkeley civil engineer, researching lifecycle environmental and economic decision-making for biofuels.

Another schedule of speakers will be announced for the spring. EBI will fund energy-bioscience-related speakers who participate in other seminars on campus, and departments are eligible to request such support once each year. Suggestions should be submitted to EBI Assistant Director Susan Jenkins at sjenkins@berkeley.edu.