Lynd '79, pioneering ethanol researcher, to speak at Bates

Professor Lee Rybeck Lynd ’79, a pioneer in the sustainable production of ethanol fuels from abundant, inexpensive and renewable plant materials, gives two public presentations at Bates College in October.

At 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28, Lynd offers a lecture about ethanol made from cellulosic biomass — plant resources rich in cellulose — and its potential role in a more environmentally sustainable U.S. economy. The event takes place in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

Lynd leads a biology seminar at 4:10 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29, in Room 204, Carnegie Science Hall, 44 Campus Ave.

Both events are open to the public at no charge. The Oct. 28 lecture is sponsored by the biology department, the environmental studies program and the Maine IDeA [cq] Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). For more information, please call 207-786-6490.

Lynd is a professor of engineering science and adjunct associate professor of biological science at Dartmouth. As a researcher, visionary and advocate, Lynd is known for his leadership in finding cost-effective methods for making cellulosic ethanol, which promises to be advantageous over conventional corn-based ethanol in many ways.

Lynd’s achievements were recognized last spring when he received the inaugural $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Sustainability Award.

Along with his Dartmouth commitments, Lynd leads biomass conversion research at a new U.S. Department of Energy-funded biofuels center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee. He is also chief scientific officer and co-founder of the for-profit, New England-based Mascoma Corp., one of several companies with cellulosic ethanol (CE) facilities planned or under construction.