The Planning Grant Will Help Establish a Green Bioeconomy in the Southeast, Create Jobs and Train Diverse Individuals Across STEM Disciplines
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, along with several regional collaborators, was awarded $1 million from the US National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines, or NSF Engines, program. They are among the more than 40 unique teams to receive one of the first-ever NSF Engines Development Awards, which aim to help partners collaborate and create economic, societal, and technological opportunities for their regions.
The funded project, entitled “Advancing carbon-neutral crop technologies to develop sustainable consumer goods (AL, GA, NC, TN)” (“Greening the Southeast” for short), aims to develop a green, circular bioeconomy for building materials and consumer goods in the Southeast that reduces climate change impacts from manufacturing by eliminating industry reliance on petroleum and environmentally costly fibers.
The Greening the Southeast team includes diverse partners across the Southeast, including faculty from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Center for Renewable Carbon and the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, as well as from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Department of Economics.
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