From the SGA President

The Sun Grant Initiative is in its tenth year of operations, and continuing to grow the nation’s bioeconomy through science in order to meet its energy needs, to support its rural communities, farms and forests, and to protect and sustain the environment. In recent years, we have strengthened our working relationships with key government agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Transportation, as well as with state agencies, federally funded laboratories, academics, public interest groups and the private sector. We held a National Conference in New Orleans in October 2012 on the Science for Biomass Feedstock Production and Utilization that was well attended by researchers, administrators and program leaders.  At the conference, it was wonderful to hear how much progress has been made in the past five years.  The members of working teams continue to build from their own disciplines, but have moved to effectively working together, creating the truly interdisciplinary projects that are necessary to make the production of bioenergy a practical reality. In the years to come, Sun Grant aims to maintain its effective working relations with the scientists and administrators who have made bio-based energy a success so far. We look forward to continuing to explore opportunities to collaborate, and to share findings and solutions to the nation’s energy needs.

Regards,

Tim
Tim Rials, SunGrant President
Sun Grant Association

Here is an overview of the site features:

• About the Sun Grant describes the concept, establishment and mission of the SGI. There is also a brief description of how the SGI implements its programs regionally and collaborates through the Sun Grant Association.
  
• SGI Regional Centers provides a link to the websites of each of the five SGI centers and a map that shows each of the SCI regions.
  
• SGI Research and Activities will provide reports on SGI program activities, focusing on the SCI’s collective national efforts. More detailed information about the programs underway within each region is provided through the regional SGI Center websites.
  
• SGI-DOE Regional Feedstock Partnership
• describes the set of activities initiated by DOE and the Sun Grants to support the development of sustainable biomass feedstocks at the regional level.  I’ll be reporting on recent developments in the Sun Grant Update.
  
  • Regional Workshops. Regional Feedstock Workshops are held annually to consider the biomass production potential and needs within each region. Participants included representatives from the federal agencies, the regional governors associations and governors’ offices, state agencies, scientists and educators from land grant universities, interest groups and the private sector. Each region identified priority biomass feedstocks and identified issues that would need to be addressed for these feedstocks to sustainably reach their production potentials.
    
  • 2012 National Meeting. Building on the discussions and reports for the Regional Workshops, biomass feedstock teams were formed. The team leaders and many of the team members met to coordinate and finalize plans for initiating new biomass feedstock field research.
    
  • Feedstock Teams. Six teams are underway: GIS Resource Assessment, Corn Residue, Herbaceous Feedstock, Woody Feedstock, Cereal Crop Residue, and Education and Outreach.
    
  • Field Trial Locations. In addition to a description of the research trials that will be implemented, the protocols for data collection will be provided. Organizations with pertinent biomass research underway who wish to collaborate in these efforts are encouraged to contact us and consider if they can incorporate these protocols into their ongoing research.
    
• SGI Partners lists and provides links to the agencies that SGI is collaborating with to address national bioenergy and biomass issues at the regional, state, and local levels.
  
• SGI Publications will provide links to SGI newsletters and publications, including the products of the Feedstock Partnership.
  
• SGI News and Events will not try to keep up with all of the bioenergy and biomass and bioenergy news and events – there’s just too much! And, there are others that provide these services already. We will report on our own activities and events and highlight some of the others; particularly the ones that we’re participating in.
  
• BioWeb is an “online encyclopedia” of all things biomass. This SGI project provides biomass information at three levels: At a Glance, General, and Technical.
  
• SGI Contacts provides contact information to reach the Sun Grant Association or the regional SGI Centers.