Korneel Rabae, Ghent University

Madhu Khanna, Alvin H. Baum Family Chair & Director, iSEE

Chancellor / Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

Luis F. Rodríguez, Associate Director for Education & Outreach, iSEE

Focus Statement: Capturing and processing or eliminating organic waste streams has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the degradation of materials in the environment. Further it avoids wasteful use of resources via production and loss.

Panelists:

• Yong-Su Jin, Food Science & Human Nutrition, Illinois, “Use of Precision Fermentation to Increase Efficiency of Food Production”
• Brian Roe, Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University, “Mitigating Consumer Food Waste”
• Gal Hochman, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Illinois, “An Economic Perspective of the Circular Bioeconomy in the Food and Agricultural Sector”
• Ning Ai, Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago, “The Good and Bad Regarding Sustainability of Urban Food Recovery Programs”

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.

Panelists:

• David Zilberman, Agricultural and Resource Economics, US Berkeley, “Economics of Bioenergy”
• Andrew Leakey, Plant Biology, Illinois, “A Bioeconomy Fueled by Oily Plants”
• Vijay Singh, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Illinois, “Catalyzing the Development of Innovative Bioprocessing Technology”
• Paul D. Bloom, Chief Carbon Officer & Chief Innovation Officer, Gevo

Focus Statement: The ubiquitous nature of plastics in today’s economy and their persistence throughout our environments makes them a 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?

Panelists:

• Becca Taylor, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Illinois, “How Economic Policy can Drive Consumer Behavior Toward Single-use Plastics”
• Joseph Klatt, Marble Plastics,“Upcycling Plastic Waste into New Consumer Products”
• Erin Webb, Circular Bioeconomy Systems Convergent Research Initiative, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, “Decarbonizing Auto Manufacturing in Tennessee”
• Kelly Tiller (invited), Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Genera, Inc. “Moving away from plastics toward bio-based consumer goods”

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?

Panelists:

• Emily Heaton, Crop Sciences, Illinois, “Expanded Growth of Perennial Grasses can Help Soak Up Carbon”
• Michael Köpke, LanzaTech, “Pollution to Products: Recycling of ‘Above Ground’ Carbon by Gas Fermentation”
• Jennifer Pett Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “Understanding Soil Carbon Reservoirs Can Help Us Increase CO₂ Capture”
• Steve Lewis, Vice President Technology and Innovation, POET (invited) “Strategies to achieve Zero-Carbon Bioproducts”

Session moderators and note takers are invited to collect ideas from sessions and summarize ideas for discussion.