JBEI project partner Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College awarded CUNY 2020 Challenge grant

August 11, 2014
By JBEI

JBEI project partner Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College awarded CUNY 2020 Challenge grant

Bronx Community College (BCC) has been approved for a $9 million CUNY 2020 challenge grant. The funds will be used for facilities upgrades, workforce development and enhanced research in renewable energy.

The Center for Sustainable Energy, a Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) project partner, is one of the BCC’s facilities that will benefit from the award. The Center for Sustainable Energy will get a state-of-the-art laboratory for biofuels, green chemistry and sustainable product development. The lab will also serve as a third-party testing facility for local industry partners such as Tri-State Biodiesel, research and development projects with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and entrepreneurs participating in START-UP NY, the state-wide program to attract hi-tech businesses with ten years of tax breaks.

In addition, the Shimadzu Corporation has awarded the college a $400,000 matching grant that will be used to purchase analytical instrumentation, such as mass spectrometers. This equipment will be integral to student training and the Sustainable Fuel and Product Development Lab.

Former JBEI researcher Aaron Socha has been leading BCC’s Center for Sustainable Energy since 2013 and is working closely with Sandia National Laboratories and JBEI to develop and test biomass-derived ionic liquids for pretreatment and other applications.  The collaboration between JBEI and BCC’s Center for Sustainable Energy has also extended to education, with JBEI welcoming BCC’s annual summer exchange research students (Dorian Whyte in 2013 and Stephany Damaso in 2014).

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