iSEE Congress 2025:

A Circular Bioeconomy

as a Path to Net-Zero

September 24-25, 2025

Illini Union, Urbana, IL

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

#iSEECongress2025

About the Congress

The topic for the 2025 iSEE Congress is “A Circular Bioeconomy as a Path to Net-Zero.” A circular bioeconomy puts recycling and regeneration at the center of how we grow and process food and consumer products. The aim is to lower the energy and water-use intensity of these processes and reduce the use of fossil fuels and synthetic chemicals by using technological and biological resources to restore and regenerate natural systems. We envision each panel covering a different facet of circularity relevant to society at large—food systems, energy systems, plastics, and carbon capture and sequestration. The panelists will highlight the current state of the research, technology, and policy in these areas while showcasing current progress and ongoing activities bringing each system closer to net-zero carbon.

Organizers

This year’s organizing committee includes Gal Hochman, Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics; Jeremy Guest, Levenick Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering; Kevin O’Brien, Director of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and Founding Director of the Prairie Research Institute Net-Zero Center of Excellence; Yong-Su Jin, Professor of Food Microbiology; Andrew Leakey, Professor of Plant Biology; Roland Cusick, Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering ; Vijay Singh, Distinguished Professor of Bioprocessing and Director of the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory; and Becca Taylor, Assistant Professor of Agricultural & Consumer Economics.

Funding

In addition to its generous support from the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund, iSEE Congress received additional funding from the Center for Global Studies’ U.S. Department of Education Title VI Natural Resource Center Grant in Global Studies.

Conference Agenda

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

5:00 p.m. — Welcome and Introduction to the iSEE Congress

5:05 p.m. — Introduction of Keynote Speaker

5:10 p.m. — Keynote address by Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director, Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems, Arizona State University (invited)

5:55 p.m. — Q&A

6:30 p.m. — Dinner (by invitation) or Public Reception

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

8:00 a.m. — Welcome and Opening Remarks
Madhu Khanna, iSEE Director
Chancellor/VCRI
Luis F. Rodríguez

8:20 a.m. — Panel 1: Zero Waste Food Systems as a Mechanism to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Moderator:
Focus Statement: Capturing and processing or eliminating organic waste streams has the potential to reduce massive quantities of greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the degradation of materials in the environment. Further it avoids wasteful use of resources via production and loss.
• Yong-Su Jin, Food Science & Human Nutrition, Illinois (invited), “Use of Precision Fermentation to Increase Efficiency of Food Production”
• Gal Hochman, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Illinois (invited), “An Economic Perspective of the Circular Bioeconomy in the Food and Agricultural Sector”
• Brian Roe, Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University (invited), “Mitigating Consumer Food Waste”
• Ning Ai, Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago (invited), “The Good and Bad Regarding Sustainability of Urban Food Recovery Programs”

9:45 a.m. — Health Break

10:00 a.m. — Panel 2: Decarbonizing Energy Systems: Technology and Policy Pathways
Moderator:
Focus Statement: Extraction, processing, distribution, and use of fossil fuels has left a massive carbon footprint upon our environment. Shifting our feedstocks, practices, and uses can change this paradigm for the benefit of our society and environment.
• Andrew Leakey, Plant Biology, Illinois (invited), “A Bioeconomy Fueled by Oily Plants”
• David Zilberman, Agricultural and Resource Economics, US Berkeley (invited), “Economics of Bioenergy”
• Vijay Singh, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Illinois (invited), “Catalyzing the Development of Innovative Bioprocessing Technology”
• Nuria Miquel, Senior Vice President, ADM, Chief Science Officer (invited), “Sustainable Aviation Fuels”

11:45 a.m. — Lunch with 2nd Keynote Speaker
Buffet lunch 11:45-12:15
12:15 Keynote and Q&A, 45 minutes, plus 12-20 minutes Q/A
Jigar Shah (invited), “Financial Pathways to Net-Zero”

1:15 p.m. — Panel 3, Envisioning a Circular Economy in Plastics and Transition to Biomaterials and Biochemicals
Focus Statement: The ubiquitous nature of plastics in today’s economy and their persistence throughout our environments makes them an obvious target for reduction and removal. How does policy and practice lead to externalities linked to today’s plastics? Can alternative feedstocks replace fossil fuels in the plastic economy?
Moderator:
• Becca Taylor, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Illinois (invited), “How Economic Policy can Drive Consumer Behavior Toward Single-use Plastics”
• George Huber, Chemical and Biological Engineering, UW-Madison <CUWP> (invited), “Harnessing Chemical Engineering to Turn Plants into Plastics and Fuels”
Joseph Klatt, Marble Plastics (invited), “Upcycling Plastic Waste into New Consumer Products”
• Erin Webb, Circular Bioeconomy Systems Convergent Research Initiative, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (invited), “Decarbonizing the Auto Industry in Tennessee”

2:45 p.m. — Panel 4, Carbon Reduction Strategies for a Net Zero Economy
Focus Statement: Addressing climate change may be best addressed by focusing on the most demonstrable symptom of the problem—carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Can they be removed and stored permanently? Where can they be stored? Or can excess greenhouse gasses be captured and used to create other products?
Moderator:
• Kevin O’Brien, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Illinois (invited), “Carbon Capture and Storage in Illinois”
Emily Heaton, Crop Sciences, Illinois (invited), “Expanded Growth of Perennial Grasses can Help Soak Up Carbon”
• Michael Köpke, LanzaTech (invited), “Pollution to Products: Recycling of ‘Above Ground’ Carbon by Gas Fermentation”
• Jennifer Pett Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (invited), “Understanding Soil Carbon Reservoirs Can Help us Increase CO₂ Capture”

4:15 p.m. — Health Break

4:30 p.m. — Reviewing Lessons with Our Rapporteurs
Session moderators and note takers are invited to collect ideas from sessions and summarize ideas for discussion