Progress 02/28/23 to 07/24/23

Outputs
Target Audience:As its title - "Biomass to biobased chemicals and materials - Combining Biotechnologies, Green Chemistry and Downstream Process to Convert Biomass into Biobased Products") - states,this GRC is entirely dedicated to biorefinery and biomanufacturing and thus aims to cover the entire value chains that go from biomass to bio-based chemicals and materials. The conferenceis organized to integrate the following science and engineering activities that will enable a transformation to the manufacturing of chemicals and materials from biomass: i) "front end" strategies to deconstruct or fractionate lignocellulose into individual biomass components, ii) increasing the selectivity and efficiency of chemical and biological catalysts for biomass (bio)conversion technologies, iii) selective lignin (bio)conversions that provide narrow compositional ranges of aromatic building blocks; iv) selective cellulose et hemicellulose (bio)conversions to access valuable chemicals and materials; v) genetic engineering of plants to increase their susceptibility to deconstruction methods and as factories to produce natural and non-natural chemicals; vi) programing increasingly effective microorganisms (synthetic biology) that either convert complex feedstocks to nearly homogenous products, or biobased synthons into chemicals; vii) developing and integrating efficient and sustainable (bio)chemical processes; and viii) manufacturing biobased polymers, materials, interfacial chemicals and green solvents from biomass components. Gathering internationally recognized academic and industrial experts - as well as young scientists, graduate students and post-docs -in bioeconomy, biorefinery, synthetic biology, molecular biology, biotechnologies, downstream process, green chemistry and (bio)chemical engineering, this GRC has been an amazing venue to discuss ongoing research and prioritize future research to overcome the fundamental scientific and technological challenges that currently hinder the development and integration of different biomass process streams. The presence of scientists from countries where biorefinery and biomass production models - as well as regulations - may differ from what is commonly done in the USA, will offer U.S. attendees with different perspectives and know-how that may eventually benefit the U.S. agriculture and food systems. Women and men served as leaders on the program in the roles of conference chair, speaker or discussion leader and the percentage of women appearing on the program is expected to be representative of the women in the field. The inclusive and safe environment at a GRC not only allowed for graduate students and post docs to present their research at poster sessions and through short talks, but also offered opportunities to network with senior scientists during meals and afternoon free time.The mix of established and early career scientists ensured the latest topics were incorporated in the conference program and identified key questions that need to be discussed. We made it a point of honor to have the best balance in terms of gender, origin and location. As a proof of"our commitment to inclusion and addressing the challenges women and all underrepresented groups face in achieving equity in science".We have decided to include theGRC Power Hour™in our program. This "event provided a forum for conversations about the barriers to inclusivity and issues such as unconscious bias, mentoring and sponsorship, strategies for addressing harassment and inappropriate behavior."We've chosen two women- an established white full professor from Europe and a recently appointed black assistant professor from the U.S.A. - to serve as co-organizers:Katalin Barta (University of Graz, Austria) and Ezinne Achinivu (University of Illinois Chicago, U.S.A.). Finally, we havepromoted the availability of fellowships to encourage as many representatives of underrepresented groups as possible to register for the conference. Changes/Problems:As outlined in the Accomplishments section, we have faced two main issues: - visa processing times & costly airfares that prevented 56 persons to come to the conference, - the difficulty to secure sponsors, espacially from industry. This prevented us from reaching the projected budget and forced us to revise the allowances. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? No less than 170 individuals applied to the 2023 Biomass to biobased chemicals & materials GRC. However, due to both extended visa processing times and increasing airfares, many international applicants (mostly graduate students) were not able to attend. Thus, out of the 170 accepted applications, the GRC reached 114 conferees. Despite the aforementioned visa and airfare issues, and as we wished,we managed to get a well-balanced attendance with: - half of the conferees coming from the US and the other half coming from abroad. All continents were represented: Europe, Asia, Americas, Australia, Africa... - 48% of females and 52% of males, - 68 established scientists (e.g., Assistant/Associate/Full Professors, Research Directors), 37 graduate students, 3 post-docs, 5 administrators, and 1 journalist, - individuals from academia (universities), national laboratories, government agenciesand industry. The 5day-program offered 9 scientific sessions with: - 9 discussion leaders, - 37 speakers, - the 2 graduate students who got selected as "best research projects" during the sister GRS (Gordon Research Seminar) that took place right before the GRC. These individuals were given the opportunity to present their research in a 20 minute-oral (Monday morning session), - the 2 individuals who got selected as "best poster" during the GRC and were given the opportunity topresent their research in a 15 minute-oral (Thursday evening session), - the Power-Hour. Four very well-attented poster sessions also allowed 53 individuals to present their research. Although we were not able to gather as much money as we expected ($87,840), we managed to secure a total of $74,556 as follows: - USDA: $31,150 - GRC: $21,750 - GRC Carl Storm International Diversity Fellowship: $1,190 - The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: $5,000 - Academic and government instituttions: $10,466 - Scientific journals publishers: $4,500 - Industry: $500 As we did not reached the targeted $87,840, we had to revise our projected budget and allowances. The secured $74,556 budget allowed us to: - cover the full registration of all discussion leaders and speakers, - cover the full registration of the 2 best posters presenters, - provide all graduate students and post-docs with travel allowances, - provide drinks and snacks for socials. Finally, the (co-)chairs (Prof. Gil Garnier and Prof. Adam Lee, both from Australia) and the vice-chair (Prof. Sankar Nair, USA) of the 2025 Biomass to biobased chemicals & materials have been elected. The venue will remain the same (i.e., Grand Summit Hotel - Sunday River, Newry, ME). In view of the very enthusiastic and positive oral feedback received from our colleagues during the GRC and the evaluations returnedby 89% of conferees (evaluations available on-demand), we can consider this event a success.

Publications