Biography
Patrick Lamers is a Systems Analyst with the Idaho National Laboratory, stationed at the National Bioenergy Center in Golden, Colorado. His work on feedstock mobilization for the US Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office supports the deployment and scale-up of the US advanced biofuels industry. Patrick’s academic degrees include a MSc from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, a MSc from Lund University, Sweden, and a PhD in Energy and Resources from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He has been a senior researcher and consultant across North America and Europe for well over 10 years, performing work for the private sector, governmental, as well as nongovernmental agencies. He has published extensively in the area of global biomass markets and is engaged in multiple international working groups such as the IEA Bioenergy.
Erin Searcy is currently leading the Bioenergy Analysis Platform at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). She originally joined INL in 2008 and has worked on a variety of biomass feedstock logistics projects since, primarily as a techno-economic analyst. Between 2012 and 2015, Erin was stationed at the US Department of Energy in Washington, DC, supporting the Bioenergy Technologies Office. Her academic degrees include a BSc and MSc in Engineering, as well as a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada. Prior to joining INL, Erin had worked as an Environmental Engineering consultant and acted as a sessional professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada.
J. Richard Hess is the Director for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Energy Systems and Technologies Division, which addresses critical national energy challenges in biofuels/bioenergy, renewable electrical systems/grid, and hybrid renewable-nuclear systems. He led the development of a biomass feedstock preprocessing and logistics program at INL and continues to serve as the Laboratory Relationship Manager for that program. This program focuses on the cost-effective use of lignocellulosic biomass crops and residues in biorefining operations, including biomass harvesting, handling, storage and transportation; and preprocessing biomass into suitable industrial-grade bioenergy commodities through enhanced feedstock formulation, densification, and packaging for transportation. He also managed the design and construction of one of DOE’s five biomass demonstration units, which in this case, was the Feedstock Process Demonstration Unit. Richard holds a Doctorate in Plant Science from Utah State University, and MSc and BSc Degrees in Botany from Brigham Young University. Following Graduate School, Richard served as an Agriculture Congressional Science Fellow in the Washington, DC Office of Senator Thomas Daschel. In this role, he worked on several national agricultural issues—including new and industrial uses of agricultural products, federal grain inspection standards, plant variety protection, and other agricultural R&D policy issues.
Heinz holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Chemistry. He is senior scientist at the Thünen-Institute of Agricultural Technology. Heinz acts as evaluator for EU-BBI-JU, is vice-chair of the SETAC Europe LCA steering committee, was a member of the German delegation for developing ISO13065, and was involved in drafting the German Biorefinery Roadmap. He is the national representative for IEA Bioenergy Task 42 (Biorefining).
Heinz’s research interests are in the area of engineering for sustainable development, which includes optimization of biotechnological and chemo-catalytic conversion processes of agricultural biomass and residues. He uses sustainability assessment, lifecycle assessment, and carbon footprint analysis of biobased systems and products in order to steer the development of biomass conversion processes in the most promising direction already at an early development stage. His ultimate goal is to foster strategies for the sustainable use of biomass for nonfood applications by providing advice to process developers and policymakers.