Mark your calendars for October 10, 2012, when WIST and UWSP host Focal Point 2012, a one-day conference in the Dreyfus University Center on the UWSP campus.

The conference goal is to demonstrate how the region's leading companies are developing and adopting new technologies which are more sustainable and which contribute to their bottom line and competitiveness.Sustainable technologies are those aimed at sustainable development, or step-change advances aimed at reducing the material, energy and environmental impacts of production processes or products which at the same time give their proponents production differentiation and competitive edge.

The conference will showcase examples of renewable energy and biofuels, innovative use of renewable raw materials, process intensification, new product ownership models, and biocatalysis applications.

More details will follow in the coming months. Watch for announcements regarding keynote speakers, topics, registration information and more in upcoming e-blasts and on the WIST website.

Shona Duncan has joined WIST as a research associate and is working on the institute's biofuels project.

Duncan, a native of New Zealand, received her doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Waikato in New Zealand in 2007, studying fungal diversity and cellulose degradation in the Ross Island historic huts, Antarctic. Since then Duncan has been involved in a project investigating fungal decay mechanisms and their potential use in the biofuels industry for feedstock pretreatment and hydrolysis of carbohydrates to glucose. While working at the University of Waikato, Duncan gained experience in running bench top and 600L fermenters. She will be using that knowledge and experience while at WIST to scale up the fermentation of sugars to isoprene from bench top to pilot scale (100L) capabilities.

The WIST biofuels project, largely funded by the Department of Defense, aims to develop affordable bio-based alternative energy that can be refined to produce jet fuel that meets DOD requirements. The raw materials can be wood chips, wood waste or energy crops such as switchgrass. Isoprene can be used to produce jet fuel but also is a chemical feedstock for the production of rubber and other industrial materials.

Eric Singsaas, WIST director of research, said WIST has reached its target isoprene production at the "bench-top" or laboratory scale at its UWSP facility. The next step is proving the concept at pilot scale, an important bridge to commercialization of the process. "The measure of success is going to be the ability to deliver isoprene samples to potential customers," Singsaas said.

Duncan is working with WIST research partner American Science and Technology, which has built a pilot scale biorefinery in Wausau, WI.

Karyn Biasca, UWSP professor of paper science and engineering, will present a one-day course on life cycle assessment, increasingly recognized as a valuable tool in measuring total environmental effects of creating, using and disposing of a product or service. 

The six-hour course is set for Feb. 17 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and is an introductory course on life cycle assessment (LCA), product category rules (PCR) and environmental product declarations (EPD). Biasca taught the life cycle assessment course in fall 2011 and received high marks in course evaluations completed by attendees, who noted that the course was "well presented," "very interesting," and "valuable."

"Karyn is very knowledgeable on this topic and has a great sense of humor," commented one participant.

The course is appropriate for anyone in an organization who needs a basic understanding of LCA, PCR and EPD. More information on this course and others is in this education prospectus. You can register for the course by email to Angie.Hauer@uwsp.edu.