Web exclusive posted Jan. 15, 2008, at 3:15 p.m. CST

The USDA and U.S. DOE today announced the appointment of six new members to the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee for a term of three years. In addition, seven members were reappointed. The committee was established by the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000. Members provide expert advice on strategic planning; the technical focus and direction of requests for proposals issued under the Biomass Research and Development Initiative; procedures for reviewing and evaluating proposals for funding; and encouragement of closer collaboration among federal and state agencies, industry and growers.

Newly appointed members include: Gil Gutknecht, cochairman and consultant in Rochester, Minn.; Richard Hamilton, chief executive officer of Ceres Inc. in Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Jay Levenstein, deputy commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Tallahassee, Fla.; Shirley Neff, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines in Washington, D.C.; Tom Simpson, executive director of the Railway Supply Institute in Washington, D.C.; Richard F. Timmons, president of American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association in Washington, D.C.

Renewed members include: Bob Dinneen, president of Renewable Fuels Association in Washington, D.C.; Douglas Hawkins, program manager of sustainable development at Rohm and Haas Co. in Spring House, Pa.; Charles Kinoshita, interim associate dean of academic and student affairs at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu; Eric Larson, affiliated faculty of the Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.; James Martin, senior associate of Omni Tech International Ltd. in Prairie Village, Kan.; Scott Mason, director of business development for emerging technology for ConocoPhillips Petroleum Co. in Bartlesville, Okla.; and Edwin White, dean of research at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, N.Y.