MSU aims to solidify its bioeconomy leadership with new faculty positions

In 2007, MSU made great progress in growing Michigan's bioeconomy. This summer, the university received a $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help establish the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, and this fall, it opened a $10 million alternative energy research center. In addition, MSU representatives traveled to Sweden with Gov. Granholm to foster collaborations between Michigan and Swedish scientists and businesses on biofuels and bioenergy.

The bioeconomy holds tremendous promise for Michigan's economic and environmental future. When fully developed, Michigan's bioeconomy will harvest significant quantities of biomass from agricultural crops and trees, manufacture it into a range of desirable, high quality products, and expand the necessary services and logistics sectors.

To further cement its leadership role in the state's bioeconomy, MSU, through the Office of Biobased Technologies, will expand its bioeconomy research capacity by hiring several new faculty members.

"In 2007-08, MSU will hire an interdisciplinary cluster of eight faculty members whose focus is research to foster and advance the bioeconomy," said Steve Pueppke, Office of Biobased Technologies director. "To fill these positions, we're looking for outstanding social scientists, plant biologists, engineers, forestry researchers and other researchers committed to achieving the full potential of the bioeconomy."

The first position posted is for a faculty member with a split appointment between the departments of Economics and Agricultural Economics whose research will focus on the economics of energy.

"We'd like someone with an emphasis on the interface between agriculture, the environment, natural resources, biofuels, alternative renewable energy sources and petroleum-based fuels," Pueppke said. "If alternative fuels are going to compete with fossil fuels, they have to be economically viable to produce and transport."

"A full transformation of an economy requires services, such as transportation and distribution, in addition to the engineering and manufacturing of alternative fuels," said Marietta Baba, dean of the College of Social Science. "Understanding the complex shifts across a society -- including acceptance by the public and necessary changes in infrastructure -- requires significant forethought and planning.

"With the new economics position, we will put a partner in place to work with faculty members who are creating the alternative fuels, someone with expertise about the costs and benefits of alternative fuel production and its ripple effects throughout the economy, including changes that need to be made in the infrastructure and support services," Baba continued. "In addition, the new science and technology policy position is intended to identify policy shifts and tools that would facilitate the broader changes in society that need to happen for the full economic transformation to occur."

Visit the OBT faculty search page for more information.