Dr. J. Richard Hess earned his Ph.D. in Plant Sciences from Utah State University. He received his BS and MS in Botany from Brigham Young University. His research focus at the INL is on feedstock harvesting, handling, and delivery issues associated with cost-effective utilization of lignocellulosic crop residues (i.e., wheat straw and corn stover) in biorefining. Richard has authored or co–authored more than 25 publications and professional presentations and holds three patents with five more patents pending. He served as a Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Thomas Daschel (D–SD), supporting many important national agriculture research issues, including new and industrial uses of agriculture products, federal grain inspection standards, and plant variety protection. Dr. Hess is the Technical Program Leader for the Bioenergy Programs at the INL.

Dr. Christopher T. Wright earned his Ph.D., Masters of Science and Bachelors of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah. His research has focused on applied fluid dynamics, thermal hydraulics, and two–phase flow. Chris performed work at the INL’s Advanced Nuclear Test Reactor (ATR) resulting in a new model and critical heat flux correlation for fuel assemblies that is the basis for operation of the ATR at higher power levels. His research includes the use of thermal anemometry and flow visualization techniques to analyze the structure of vortex flows in the wake of lifting bodies. Chris has applied his expertise in fluid dynamics and solid mechanics to investigate flow separation processes in agricultural machinery and biomechanical properties of agricultural residues. Chris has authored or co–authored papers covering topics ranging from nuclear reactors to bioenergy in the areas of flow visualization techniques, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and biomechanical properties of agricultural crops. Dr. Wright is a Research Engineer in the Renewable Energy and Power Department. Send E–mail

Dr. Corey Radtke earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Texas Tech University. He holds a Masters of Science Degree in Toxicology from Utah State University and Bachelors of Science degree in Biology from Boise State University. He is currently working in the area of supplying lignocellulosic feedstock for bioconversion. Corey is performing baseline economic analyses of lignocellulosic feedstock assembly systems, as well as the quality changes of the biomass throughout the feedstock supply chain. He is the INL lead on establishing the functional (recalcitrance–driven) and compositional quality economics of corn stover, switchgrass and wheat straw as impacted by the feedstock supply chain operations of harvest, milling, and storage. Corey is a Senior Scientist in the Biological Sciences Department. Send E–mail

Kevin L. Kenney earned his Masters of Science in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. Kevin has been working in the INL Biomass Program for five years, and is currently the lead for all harvest and collection tasks. In addition, Kevin is also leading the feedstock supply system design effort, which integrates core R&D, engineering design and analysis to identify supply system improvements and technology advancements needed to achieve program feedstock cost and supply targets. Kevin has authored and co–authored several publications as well as a number of reports in the bioenergy field. He has received one patent and has three pending patents relating to harvesting equipment and technology. Kevin is a Research Engineer in the Industrial and Materials Technology Department. Send E–mail

Dr. Judy K. Partin received her Ph. D. in Physics from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. At the university she was a member of a NSF-funded team developing an on-line water quality monitoring technology based upon the optical identification of diatom species. Over the past 27 years, Judy has worked on a number of projects including the design and development of advanced instrumentation systems with application to a variety of process environments including nuclear, geothermal, mining, and waste processing operations. She is currently applying her expertise in the characterization of two–phase flow for the development and validation of high–density, bulk–feedstock handling and transportation processes funded through the DOE Office of Biomass Programs. Dr. Partin is a Senior Scientist in the Physics Department. Send E–mail

Dr. Thomas H. Ulrich earned his Ph.D. in Agronomy, University of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana, IL. He also holds a Masters of Science degree in Genetics, Washington State University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA. He has more than 20 years of university, industrial, and INL R&D experience in plant science and recombinant DNA as applied to a wide range of bacterial, viral, and plant systems. Tom is currently collaborating on Department of Commerce and Department of Energy funded biomass projects involving biomass related gene discovery and plant genetic variation as well as assessing the impact of different types of biomass feedstocks on the feedstock assembly supply chain and at the biorefinery. Dr. Ulrich is an INL Advisory Scientist in the Biological Science Department. Send E–mail

David J. Muth, Jr. holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. Dave is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Iowa State University working at the INL as a full time graduate intern. His background is in computational and numerical modeling, as well as developing software tools which integrate systems of models to support engineering decision–making. Dave has been working with the INL Bioenergy program on the development and implementation of an interactive design and analysis software framework for selective harvest. Send E–mail

Peter A. Pryfogle holds a Master of Science Degree in Biology from Bowling Green State University. He has a broad base of experience in the development and application of techniques for conducting in situ measurements of the spatial and functional relationships within biological communities, and how they interact in various processes. For the past five years, Pete has supported the laboratory’s Bioenergy Program. His efforts are directed at developing image analysis techniques for use in the biomechanical modeling of plant stem structure properties and in the development of NIRS analyses for determining the quality of various grind fractions of herbaceous crop stovers. In addition to his bioenergy work he has led or worked on projects including: the microbial enhanced leaching and recovery of metals; control of nuisance algal growth in hydropower generation canals; and the identification and control of biofouling in geothermal power plants. He also participated in the development of a proprietary microbial encapsulation process combining the activities of several microorganisms with specific and limited nutrients to control their functions. Pete is a Senior Scientist in the biological Sciences Department. Send E–mail

D. Brad Blackwelder earned a Master of Science Degree in Waste Management and Environmental Science from Idaho State University and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the State University of New York, Albany. He has a broad base of experience in laboratory experimental design and gathering and handling field samples. Brad is a co–inventor on several patents, including the In Situ Bioreactor. For the past four years, he has supported the INL Bioenergy Program with his efforts being directed at designing, sampling and laboratory analysis of field–scale biomass storage experiments. He has extensive laboratory training and experience on a variety of analytical devices including Gas Chromatography and Mass spectroscopy, High Performance Liquid Chromatography, and Ion Chromatography. Brad is a Senior Scientist in the Biological Sciences Department. Send E–mail

Dr. David N. Thompson earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Michigan State University. He also holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering. David has 20 years of R&D experience in the areas of lignocellulose pretreatment, biological transformations of renewable feedstocks for processing to value–added products, and biological upgrading of feedstock quality. Since coming to the INL in 1995, he has worked to develop and improve distributed methods for handling and processing renewable feedstocks, including industrial, municipal, and forest products process effluents and wastewaters, and renewable lignocellulosic agricultural residues such as cereal straws and corn stover. He has also worked with several biological and enzymatic systems to produce value–added products from lignocellulose and various industrial waste streams. He has served on project teams whose work has twice been nominated for R&D 100 Awards, winning this award in 2006 for Xtreme Xylanase. He is a co–inventor on 9 patents and pending applications, and author or co–author of more than 110 journal articles, reports, and technical presentations. Dr. Thompson is a Senior Scientist in the Biological Sciences Department. Send E–mail

Robert M. Neilson earned a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Management and a Master of Science Degree in Materials Sciences. Bob is the Department Manager for INL’s Renewable Energy and Power Department and has 23 years of experience at the INL. He is responsible for the acquisition, development, and execution of renewable energy and power technology programs that focus on biomass energy, geothermal, hydropower, wind and distributed power systems. He is the former manager of the Materials and Processes Department, and was a Principal Investigator on a number of research and development projects. Prior to his tenure at INL, he was a Section Leader and Principal Investigator at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Send E–mail

David R. Anderson earned a Masters of Science Degree in Plant Genetics from the University of Minnesota and a Masters of Business Administration Degree in International Finance & Agribusiness from Santa Clara University. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agronomy/Chemistry from Utah State University. He is the Commercialization Manager for Alternative Energy Technologies in Technology Transfer & Commercialization Department and provides business support to the Bioenergy program. Prior to joining the laboratory, Mr. Anderson held senior management positions with several chemical and agribusiness companies and was responsible for marketing, business development and sales activities. Mr. Anderson has also been a Board member of a number of genetic engineering and agribusiness companies. Send E–mail

Patrick T. Laney works in the INL’s Renewable Energy and Power Department which coordinates the INL’s efforts in Bioenergy, Geothermal, Hydropower, Wind and Power Systems research and development. Pat has worked at the INL for 19 years as a project manager on numerous projects in the energy and environmental areas. He earned Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Geology. Send E–mail