C2B2 to offer affiliate institution partnerships

The Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels (C2B2) will invite prominent public and private universities and non-profit research organizations to become affiliate partners of C2B2. Through these affiliations, C2B2 seeks to promote inter-university and inter-state collaborations for the development of renewable and sustainable biorefining and biofuels.

Affiliate membership will permit premier domestic and international universities, as well as non-profit organizations to engage in C2B2 Center research and education programs, including the Center’s innovative research seed grants, professional short courses, postdoctoral and graduate fellowships, and undergraduate research experience. Affiliates will also partake in semi-annual meetings and interact with the Center’s 22 existing corporate sponsors. Private entities currently working with an affiliate institution will also have the opportunity to work with the Center.

C2B2’s sponsor diversity currently includes large corporations like Chevron Technology Ventures, ConocoPhillips, Kimberly-Clark, General Motors, Shell Global Solutions, and Valero Services, as well as small businesses such as Gevo, Mascoma Corp., and ZeaChem, in additional to international and local companies. Existing and new corporate sponsors will benefit from the expanding body of academic expertise within the Center through joint private- and government-funded research projects.

“The addition of affiliate institutions to C2B2’s umbrella structure provides unparalleled opportunities for new and existing research partners to network,” says Dr. Alan Weimer, C2B2 Executive Director. “Likewise our corporate members will benefit from the ability to fund sponsored research projects with a greater diversity of partners.”

C2B2 and the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory are cooperative activities of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines and the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Since the initiation of Center operations in 2007, C2B2 has successfully integrated research center activities of the four founding partner institutions through “shared,” research.

C2B2 Managing Director, Dr. Ryan Gill explains “sustainable fuels and chemicals represent a global challenge, we think C2B2 is positioned favorably to help lead in meeting this challenge. By establishing this new membership class, we hope to engage a broader distribution of stakeholders in Center activities. New affiliate institutions will bring new expertise, additional industrial sponsors, and strengthen our relationships with federal R&D agencies.”

C2B2 research and education programs span the breadth of biofuels and biorefining expertise. Center research thrusts include feedstock engineering, plant biotechnology and crop science; biochemical and thermochemical processing; process engineering, including biomass hydrolysis, catalytic reforming, fluid dynamics and separations; product engineering, including bioproduct synthesis and biofuels characterization; and life cycle assessment, economics and policy analysis.

For information on becoming a C2B2 Affiliate Institution Partner, contact Center Coordinator Frannie Ray-Earle at 303-492-7736 or e-mail C2B2@colorado.edu. For more information on C2B2, visit www.C2B2web.org.