The Northeast Bioenergy & Bioproducts program is looking for people who are excited about the possibilities of biofuels and bioproducts. Through a collaboration of six universities, the program seeks teachers and interns who can explain or learn about those “bio” possibilities, offering three opportunities to future teachers and participants that range from a 12-week internship to varying length master teacher training workshops. “I think it is important to be tapping into our young people’s interest in sustainability and biobased materials,” said Denny Hall, co-program manager from the Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center at Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “This is just a way that they can see materials in their backyard, and how those things can become sources of energy and sources of materials.”

The program is funded through a $5 million grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food Agriculture. Each university participating in the program will offer an internship based on a different specialty areas and a master teacher training program. The program at OSU will focus on the area of biobased materials, according to Hall. Corinne Rutzke, project director at Cornell University, a participating school in the program, said one of the hope’s of the program is to inspire today’s student’s in the same way student’s were inspired by the space program of the 1960s. “A lot of young people today are tuned into the environment and sustainability, but many don’t realize how much they need a scientific, math or engineering background to bring us into the bioeconomy.”

Hall also stressed the importance of a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) based education. In addition to having skills in those areas, the ideal candidate for the teaching positions would be “excited about the subject matter,” Hall said. For the interns applying, Hall noted that a good candidate might be a mid-level college student with an engineering background that wants to learn about bioproducts and biobased materials.

An intern at OSU would work with experts in food processing, agricultural engineering and the economics related to the biobased materials industry, eventually creating a curriculum complete with lesson plans and other materials for teachers to use in the future.

Each participating university, however, offers different areas of specialization, and interested applicants should review the applications. For more information about the program including application forms and participants in the program, click here.