19 June 2007

Dean’s Introduction

The Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative is a public-private partnership that aims to showcase and build on the UW System’s considerable efforts in bioenergy research, outreach and training, and to foster state and local efforts to attract and support companies working in the bioenergy sector. We’re convinced that the WBI will bolster rural economies as it sparks new opportunities for Wisconsin agriculture and the many companies that rely on it for their success.

WBI has developed partnerships in the educational, industrial, and public sectors. This initiative will serve as a point of coordination for bioenergy activities between colleges at all of the UW campuses and state agencies. In addition, various faculty members have long standing partnerships with industrial partners.

The WBI was created in response to the U.S. Department of Energy’s announcement that it will invest $250 million in two new multidisciplinary bioenergy research and technology development centers. DOE is asking for proposals to host the multidisciplinary centers, which will conduct comprehensive, integrated research and training programs in energy-related systems and synthetic biology. Clearly the UW-System is a perfect fit for a DOE bioenergy research center. The UW System has hundreds of faculty, staff and students working on projects related to bioenergy in disciplines that encompass biology, agriculture, engineering, natural resources and the social sciences. UW scientists across the state are generating new knowledge that will help expand our potential to harness microbial and plant systems for cost-effective renewable energy production.

Governor Jim Doyle recently unveiled a proposal to invest $450 million in public and private funds — including $85 million in state funding — in development of renewable fuel sources to help the nation achieve energy independence.

Although much of our effort at this early stage has revolved around the DOE request for proposals, it is important to make sure our work also includes important economic assessment, modeling, and social sciences aspects of transforming our landscape and economy to this new world.

Ultimately, we hope to demonstrate to other funding partners both public and private that UW is the center of activity and worthy of increased investment.

CALS Dean Molly Jahn