Spotlight
 Urbana-Champaign
Urbana Professor Leads Bioenergy Initiative
 Professor
Stephen P. Long is at the forefront of bioenergy research.
Long, Robert Emerson Professor of crop sciences in the College of Agricultural,
Consumer and Environmental Sciences and a professor of plant biology in
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been conducting research
on Miscanthus, a perennial grass, for years.
Long, who also has an appointment at the Institute for Genomic Biology,
is the Urbana lead for the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), announced
in February 2007. Funded by $500 million from energy company BP, EBI is
a collaboration between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
the University of California at Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory.
Urbana's role in the project focuses on plant materials for the production
of biofuels.The initiative will explore how adequate supplies of high
quality plant biomass can be sustainably produced and utilized in facilities
that convert the biomass to fuels. More than 300 acres of campus farmlands
will be planted with Miscanthus x giganticus, a sterile hybrid
that grows to more than 12 feet tall.
The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES)
focuses on discovering, advancing, and integrating new knowledge to ensure
nutritious and safe food, sustainable and innovative agriculture, strong
families and communities, and environmentally sound use of natural resources
to benefit the people of Illinois and the world. ACES is home to seven
academic departments and an interdisciplinary graduate division.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences provides a strong foundation that
supports excellence across the Urbana campus. Programs in chemistry,
chemical engineering, English, history, mathematics, microbiology, political science,
psychology, and speech communication are consistently ranked among the top in the nation.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a recognized leader in
teaching and scholarship and is known as an institution that creates knowledge
and advances understanding.
View More Spotlights >>
Learn More
Energy Biosciences Institute
News Bureau release on the BP grant (Feb 2007)
Department of Crop Sciences
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Department of Plant Biology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Institute for Genomic Biology(IGB)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
June 2007
| 
