UWSP Team Wins Accolade for Biofuels Innovation

WiSys recently announced the recipients of the 2009 WiSys Innovation Scholar Awards for the UW–Stevens Point campus: Drs. Don Guay, Eric Singsaas, and Amy Wiberley have been selected for their outstanding research related to biofuels. The three scientists combined their research and expertise in the development of a biofuel production process that breaks down cellulose from paper and forest waste into pulp and converts it into an efficient and marketable biofuel.
 
Sponsored by the law firm Quarles & Brady, the WiSys Innovation Scholar Award program recognizes innovative UW System faculty, staff, and students who make discoveries that benefit society. Selection for the award is based on the innovative concept, broad use, value, and industrial application of the invention. The Department of Energy projects the production of biofuels in the U.S. to be 2.3 million barrels per day by 2030. Currently there are nine pulp mills in Wisconsin (two of which have been closed) that would be ideal sites for biofuel production. The utilization of these paper mills for biofuel production would create jobs and greatly influence Wisconsin’s economy.
 
Eric Singsaas is a professor of biology at UW–Stevens Point with interests in plant physiology, tree biology, and ecophysiology. Dr. Singsaas studies isoprene, a precursor to various materials such as rubber, jet fuel, biofuel, adhesives, and latex. Don Guay is an assistant professor of paper science and engineering at UW–Stevens Point and focuses his research on the use of enzymes to release glucose from forestry waste or wood for conversion into biofuels. Amy Wiberley is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology at UW–Stevens Point. She earned her PhD in botany at UW–Madison in 2008.
 
The group recently received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to continue their research in collaboration with private companies in Wisconsin. This research project is an example of the extraordinary progress comprehensive campuses are making towards becoming economic engines of Wisconsin. An award ceremony will take place at UW–Stevens Point in early 2010.
 
—Source: Wisconsin People and Ideas, Winter 2010