The U.S. Department of Energy has announced it is soliciting nominations for members to fill vacancies on the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. Nominations are due June 30.

A notice posted in the Federal Register explains the committee advises DOE and USDA on various issues related to the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, including the technical focus and direction of requests for proposals issued under the initiative and procedures for reviewing and evaluating proposals. In addition, the committee facilitates consultations and partnerships among government agencies, agricultural producers, industry, consumers, researchers and other interested parties to carry out program activities that relate the initiative, and evaluates and performs strategic planning on these program activities. The committee meets quarterly, with meetings typically lasting two days. Three of the annual meetings are held in the Washington, D.C. area, with the fourth held at a site to be determined each year.

Committee members may serve two, three-year terms. Committee membership must include a variety of specific members. This includes an individual affiliated with the biofuels industry; an individual affiliated with the biobased industrial and commercial products industry; an individual affiliated with an institution of higher education that has expertise in biofuels and biobased products; two prominent engineers or scientists from non-federal government or academia that have expertise in biofuels and biobased products; and individual affiliated with a commodity trade association; two individuals affiliated with environmental or conservation organizations; an individual associated with state government who has expertise in biofuels and biobased products; an  individual with expertise in energy and environmental analysis; an individual with expertise in the economics of biofuels and biobased products; an individual with expertise in agricultural economics; an individual with expertise in plant biology and biomass feedstock development; an individual with expertise in agronomy, crop science or soil science; and other members.  

Nominations this year are needed for an individual affiliated with a commodity trade association and an individual with expertise in agricultural economics. According to the notice, the committee is also interested in nominations of individuals with expertise in process engineering related to biorefineries or biobased coproducts that enable fuel production.

The committee currently includes more than 30 committee members, including those representing New Page Corp., Washington State University, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Agri-Tech Producers LLC, General Motors, South Dakota State University, the University of Illinois, Texas A&M University, Purdue University, the University of Michigan, the American Academy of Microbiology, the State University of New York, Battelle, the University of Arizona, DuPont, NexSteppe, Black & Veatch, the University of California, North Carolina A&T State University, O-Innovation Advisors LLC, Georgia Tech., Genera Energy Inc., MARC-IV Consulting, Archer Daniels Midland Co., Cornell University, the University of California, Berkeley, Cascade Science and Technology Research, Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, Novozymes North America Inc., BIOFerm Energy Systems, BioAmber Inc. and Michigan State University.

A full list of current committee members is available on the Biomass R&D Initiative website. Additional information on submitting member nominations is available on the Federal Register website.