Hello All,
I hope this message finds each and every one of you doing well.
Here is a weekly glimpse of what September 2009 had in store:
September 1 - 4: The first week of the “Greenjobs Initiative” training started with “Fundamentals of Applied Ethanol Process Operations”. The “Greenjobs Initiative” was a grant awarded to the NCERC in the amount of $237,000 by the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s and sponsored by the Wal-Mart Foundation.
September 8 - 11: The second week of the “Greenjobs Initiative” training included four days of classroom instruction complimented by applied hands-on learning in the NCERC Pilot Plant. Tuesday September 8, the NCERC was honored to host Courtney Raker’s from the office of State Representative Jay Hoffman. Representative Hoffman has provided unwavering support of the NCERC. On Thursday September 10, Stephanie Regagnon (Asst. Director, Commercialization) represented the NCERC (SIUE) at the Missouri Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences. John Caupert (Director), Brian Wrenn (Research Director) and Frank Romano (Director of Operations) met with ILDCEO in Springfield, IL, Thursday September 10, to provide status updates on Capital Grant projects.
September 14 - 18: The third week of the “Greenjobs Initiative” training included five days of classroom instruction complimented by applied hands-on learning in the NCERC Analytical Laboratory. The NCERC was well represented by Brian Wrenn (Research Director) and Terry Lash (Research Engineer) at the grand opening of Genencor’s Application Facility located in Cedar Rapids, IA. Special thanks to Bob Randle of Genencor for including NCERC in their grand opening festivities.
John Caupert (Director) was a featured guest speaker at the AACC International Conference held in Baltimore, MD. John extends a sincere thanks to Ron Jenkins of USDA/GIPSA for extending the invitation to be a guest speaker. Dr. Yan Zhang (Assistant Director, Analytical Research) conducted a poster presentation at the International AOAC meeting held in Philadelphia, PA. Over the past two years, Dr. Yan Zhang has done an exemplary job of networking in the scientific and technical communities.
On Thursday September 17, John Caupert (Director) visited with Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (located on the campus of Western Illinois University), and accepted a verbal commitment of $250,000 in Internship sponsorships.
September 21 - 25: The fourth and concluding week of the “Greenjobs Initiative” training included four days of classroom comprehensive review of the biofuels industry, as well as tour days of a corn farm and a dry grind ethanol plant. Many of the trainees saw for the first time a cycle we describe as “farm to fuel”.
A very special thank you is extended to Jamey Cline (National Corn Growers Association) and Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) for their participation in our “Greenjobs Initiative” training. Jamey and Geoff received the highest overall scores provided by the 30 trainees in the course evaluations. It is the professional relationship between NCERC, NCGA and RFA that leads to our unprecedented success!
September 21 - 25: John Caupert (Director) represented the NCERC in Washington, DC at the RFA Board and Committee meetings. The NCERC is well positioned on both the Technical Committee and Co-Products Committee of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).
Until next time, have a good, productive and safe month!
Regards,
John Caupert
Director, National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center
Phone: 618-659-6737 Ext 226
Email: jcaupert@ethanolresearch.com
