Bill Belden

Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc.

Bill Belden consulting manager for the Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc. is a 1974 graduate of Iowa State University where he received a BS degree in farm operations.  Following graduation he engaged in a family farming operation until 1980 when he became employed by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. He worked for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation as a Regional Manager for 24 years.  In that capacity, he managed 5 County Farm Bureau offices, hired and trained office staff, worked with County Farm Bureau Boards to carry out their membership growth activities, public relation efforts, lobbying activities, leadership development and project development activities.  Following his tenure with Farm Bureau, Bill served as project manager for the Chariton Valley Biomass Project and their Long Term Test Burn. His project management duties with the Biomass Project included coordinating feedstock development and logistic activities; organizing data collection activities on site during the Long Term Test Burn and coordinating and scheduling personnel for the test burn activities.  He also coordinated contractor activities for construction, planning operations and environmental evaluations for this Department of Energy project. Prairie Lands Bio-Products, Inc. is the producer group who conducted the fuel supply development function to the Chariton Valley Biomass Project.  Prairie Lands is in the process of business modeling and fuel supply development potentially burning switchgrass on a commercial basis with coal to generate electricity.  Prairie Lands and Alliant Energy announced a partnership in the spring to 2008 to develop strategies and plans for biomass fuel supplies for the newly permitted Sutherland Generating Station Unit #4 near Marshalltown, Iowa. In addition to being consulting manager to Prairie Lands, he is consulting with Antares Group Inc. on the Abengoa cellulose to ethanol processing project in Kansas and developing harvesting protocols for miscanthus and biomass grinding activities at Idaho National Laboratory.

Dr. David E. Brune

University of Missouri

Division of Food Systems and Bioengineering

Dr. David E. Brune accepted appointment as Professor of Bioprocess and Bioenergy in the Division of Food Systems and Bioenegineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia, having completed 22 yrs as Professor, and Newman Endowed Chair of Natural Resource Engineering in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Clemson University in South Carolina. Dr. Brune is known worldwide for his aquacultural engineering and wastewater treatment expertise. Dr. Brune led the Clemson Aquaculture research program since its inception in 1989, and has successfully conducted a variety of high quality research programs in aquaculture, microalgae for waste treatment, bioenergy from fermentation of biomass, and related topics. Over the last 22 years, the Clemson program has yielded 115 scientific articles, twenty-eight advanced degrees granted to students, with 46 grants from 23 different agencies, generating over $4 million in support of  development of the Clemson facilities. Prior to his appointment at Clemson University, Dr. Brune directed an aquacultural engineering program at the University of California-Davis  Dr. Brune received degrees from the University of Missouri in Agricultural Engineering and Sanitary Engineering. His work targets biological and physical processes for wastewater treatment and recovery of waste nutrients. He is responsible for the development of improved systems for increased carrying-capacity and low-cost, semi-intensive culture systems, as well as, completely closed super-intensive systems for production of shrimp, catfish and bivalves. Dr. Brune is lead investigator involved with the development of Clemson University's recently patented Partitioned Aquaculture System (PAS) and Controlled Eutrophication System (CEP).  Dr. Brune also serves as technical adviser to the International Network on Microalgae Biofixation of CO₂ for Greenhouse Gas Abatement, a consortium of private energy companies, and governmental agencies seeking solutions to global greenhouse warming issues.

Dr. Jon Hagler

Missouri Director of Agriculture

As Missouri’s twenty-first Director of Agriculture, Dr. Jon Hagler was appointed by Missouri Governor Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon and confirmed by the State Senate on January 29, 2009. A lifelong horseman, Dr. Hagler was raised on a horse farm in Dent County and continues to operate a small horse operation near St. James, where he trains and sells Missouri Fox Trotters - the state horse. Prior to becoming the Director of Agriculture, Dr. Hagler served as Gov. Nixon’s principal agricultural and environmental policy adviser and was instrumental in developing the Governor’s agricultural and environmental policies. He traveled over 60,000 miles meeting with farmers and farm families in every corner of Missouri to learn about their operations and assess their needs. Dr. Hagler previously worked with the University of Missouri-Rolla (now, Missouri University of Science & Technology) and the California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. In those positions, he focused on corporate research and development, governmental affairs and international outreach. Dr. Hagler also served as the Chief of Staff to Missouri’s Speaker of the House and to the Speaker Pro Tem. In addition, he was a research analyst in the Missouri Senate. While serving as a staffer in the state legislature, Dr. Hagler worked on many key agricultural legislative initiatives including the grain dealer law, farm machinery lemon law, the fence law, the southern dairy compact, House Bill 888 and farmland preservation. A summa cum laude graduate of Truman State University (formerly Northeast Missouri State University) in Kirksville, Mo., Dr. Hagler holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a doctorate in political science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Emily Heaton

Iowa State University 

Assistant Professor of Agronomy

Dr. Emily Heaton is an Assistant Professor of Agronomy focusing on the production and physiology of biomass crops at Iowa State University.  While pursuing her doctorate in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, she pioneered and led research comparing the biomass production of Miscanthus and switchgrass in the US, research that indicated Miscanthus could produce 250% more ethanol than corn. Heaton joined ISU from Ceres, a plant genetics company in California that specializes in biomass crops for fuel. There she led the development of the largest dedicated biofuels variety evaluation network in the country. Dr. Heaton remains actively involved with her family farm in Monticello, IL, which employs diverse agricultural activities ranging from rotational poultry grazing to biomass crop production for sustainable and profitable land management. At Iowa State, Dr. Heaton focuses on best management practices for perennial energy crops, the impact these crops may have on biogeochemical cycles, and their potential for ameliorating global climate change through carbon offset and sequestration. She can be reached via email at heaton@iastate.edu. 

Dr. Rob Myers

Director of Programs

Jefferson Institute

Dr. Rob Myers the Director of Programs at the Jefferson Institute.  Prior to founding the Institute, he worked as a national program director for education and research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Earlier in his career, he was on the agriculture faculty at University of Missouri, and served as a Congressional Science Fellow in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Myers grew up on a family farm in Illinois and has a Ph.D. in plant and soil science from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Paul K. Nam

Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Dr. Paul Nam is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla.  Dr. Nam’s past research focused primarily on soybean product utilization but his current efforts concentrate on microalgae.  He is conducting research on production and utilization of microalgae, including a pilot project at a coal-fired power plant in Chamois, MO, which uses carbon dioxide emissions from the plant to grow algae in tanks.  Collaborators on that project include Keesoo Lee (Lincoln University), Virgil Flanigan, (M S&T), and Fabio Rindi (National University of Ireland).

Dr. Luis F. Rodriquez

University of Illinois

 Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department

Luis F. Rodríguez joined the University of Illinois as an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department in August of 2005. After completing his interdisciplinary Ph.D. at Rutgers University in the areas of industrial and systems engineering and bioresource engineering, Dr. Rodríguez was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow working at NASA Johnson Space Center and a research scientist at the Universities Space Research Association in Houston, TX. His research interests include the modeling and analysis of sustainable biosystems and renewable energy systems. He is currently teaching ABE222 (Introduction to Agricultural and Biological Engineering) and is developing courses in Engineering of Life Support Systems and Modeling and Analysis of Biological Systems. His is an adviser for upper level ABE students interested in biological engineering.

Dr. Norman R. Scott

Dept. of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Cornell University

Dr. Norm Scott is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Cornell University.  He is principal investigator and director of the CowPower project (http://www.cowpower.cornell.edu/index.htm), a project developed to study the potential for Biogas Energy conversion on New York State dairy farms using fuel cell technology.  This study is jointly funded by Cornell University and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).  The project uses a life-cycle assessment approach to evaluate system feasibility and impact on farm profitability and waste-stream reduction. Dr. Scott is also engaged in research and outreach on sustainable development.  He describes his current research interests in this way:

"I have been involved in bioengineering research and teaching throughout my academic career. Research has focused on thermoregulation in poultry, biomechanics of machine milking of dairy cows and electronic applications in agriculture, with particular attention to automatic identification and estrus detection of livestock. A principal theme of this research is biothermal engineering for plants, animals and humans. I have now redirected my research and teaching interests to sustainable development. I believe "sustainable development" is the dominant economic, environmental and social issue for the 21st century. To meet this challenge requires an entrepreneurship, which combines energy, environmental, industrial, and agricultural knowledge and innovation. The objective is to combine science, engineering, technology, economics, and social principles to "engineer" new ecologically sustainable communities. The concept represents the epitome of systems analysis- a challenge combining the insight from the physical sciences with those of the biological and social sciences. Characteristics of a sustainable community will be based in biologically-derived fuels, renewable energy, recycling, energy conservation, reduced transportation, managed ecosystems, advanced housing systems and sustainable agriculture. "

Patrick Westhoff

University of Missouri

Department of Agricultural Economics and FAPRI

Patrick Westhoff is Co-Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and a research associate professor in the department of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri. He is a native of Manchester, Iowa, where he grew up on the family dairy farm. He obtained a B.A. in political science from the University of Iowa, an M.A. in Latin American studies from the University of Texas, and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Iowa State University. Prior to joining FAPRI-Missouri in August 1996, he served four years as the chief economist for the Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. From 1983 to 1992, he worked at Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) for FAPRI-Iowa State. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1979 to 1981.