Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center taps scientist to bridge disciplines

Madison, Wis. — The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (more articles), a public-private partnership locataed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has hired a scientific programs director to help bridge scientific disciplines and hopefully speed commercial technology development.

Steve Slater, a plant and bacterial geneticist, was chosen for the job and now will be a liaison between biological scientists, engineers and computer scientists in the search for bioenergy advances.

"The Department of Energy wants and expects us to deliver new technology — stuff that works in the real world and is economically and environmentally viable," Slater said in a UW-Madison news release.

The center is a collaborative project of:

• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Michigan State University
• University of Florida
• Iowa State University
• Illinois State University
• Lucigen Corporation
• Oak Ridge National Lab
• Pacific Northwest National Lab

Lucigen (more articles), the sole private partner, is a molecular biology firm in Madison.