TIM DONOHUE
UW Foundation Chairman Fetzer-Bascom Professor of Bacteriology at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Keynote Speaker in the Our Changing Global Enviornment Symposia's Energy Track
On the Road to Sustainable Production of Fuels and Chemicals from Biomass
Tim Donohue will report on the role of the Wisconsin Energy Institute in providing energy for society, focusing on activities within Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Great Lakes Bioenergy conducts basic, genome-enabled research to design the microbial and plant systems needed to convert lignocellulosic, non-food, biomass into fuels and chemicals that are currently derived from petroleum. In the past 12 years, Great Lakes Bioenergy has published over 1250 papers, made discoveries that are part of more than 175 patents, leasing to over 100 licenses and the formation of 5 start-up companies. He will describe future activities of this center in producing fuels and chemicals from dedicated energy crops grown on marginal lands, a vision that can provide new sources of revenue for biomass producers, communities, and sustainable, locally-produced, substitutes for petroleum and other products.
Biography
Donohue has been a faculty member at University of Wisconsin-Madison for approximately 33 years. His research program studies how microbes can be used to divert carbon and energy from renewable resources into useful products. He has been a member of federal research panels, served on editorial boards and advisory committees, helped author reports for the Department of Energy, led cross-disciplinary graduate training programs, and is the secretary and a past president of the American Society for Microbiology.
Since 2007, Donohue has served as director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, a U.S. Department of Energy renewable fuels and chemicals research center. Donohue is also interim director of the Wisconsin Energy Institute, a cross campus unit that is the administrative home of Great Lakes Bioenergy and other programs which seek to develop tomorrow’s clean energy systems.