More than 200 scientists convened in Asheville, North Carolina, June 15-19 for the Department of Energy’s Center for Bioenergy Innovation, or CBI’s, 2025 annual meeting. The three-day gathering highlighted the latest scientific progress across the center’s 17 research partners, which include national labs, universities and private industry.
CBI Director Jerry Tuskan opened the meeting by introducing CBI’s new chief science officers, Melissa Cregger and Carrie Eckert, who succeed Brian Davison as he moves to a new role as industrial liaison for the center’s Research Council.
Scientific presentations spanned CBI’s research focus areas critical to the future of bioenergy and the bioeconomy, including switchgrass and poplar research, consolidated bioprocessing, catalytic upgrading, lignin valorization, computational biology, land use modeling and sustainable aviation fuel.
“CBI’s annual meeting reinforces the collaborative nature of our work by enabling critical discussions among our researchers. These interactions are vital as we continue to advance biotechnology solutions for a thriving U.S. bioeconomy.“
– CBI Director Jerry Tuskan
Best Poster awards went to: Marie Klein (University of California, Davis) for the poplar team; Patrick Suthers (Penn State University) for the switchgrass team; Brandon Boone (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) for the rapid genetics team; Sami Hennen (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) for the deconstruction team; Mirko Pavicic (ORNL) for the computational biology team; Kay Glass (Penn State University) for the technoeconomic/life cycle analysis team; Eashant Thusoo (University of Wisconsin-Madison) for the consolidated bioprocessing team; Katie Mains (NREL) for the lignin valorization team; and Kayla Wozny (University of Virginia) for the catalysis team.
CBI also honored Patrick Suthers and Tommy Willis of Penn State University as best team player and best communicator, respectively, and Jay Chen of ORNL as best collaborator.
The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, led by DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is one of four Bioenergy Research Centers across the nation. Sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research program, these centers develop science and technology solutions for a robust bioeconomy, boosting domestic supply chains and energy security while providing job growth in America’s rural areas.