The Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering integrates biotechnology and engineering through Bioprocess Engineering, the discipline that puts biotechnology to work (see NRC report, Bioprocess Engineering: Putting Biotechnology to Work, 1992). Engineers design the processes and equipment required to make these processes work, and also lead development of fundamental understanding and mathematical models of biocatalysts – living and non-living, that correlate, and in some cases predict, the time course and product distribution of the complex biochemical transformations carried out by these catalysts. In some cases engineers use biology as a template to design new materials, catalysts, separations, and processes. Examples are given in a 2004 paper on Bioprocess Engineering in The Bridge, a publication of the National Academy of Engineering (Vol. 34, No. 3, 26-31, Fall 2004). When coupled with economic analysis and assessment of policy impacts, the work of the Laboratory is able to contribute to identification of new directions and strategic approaches to transforming renewable resources into bioproducts and bioprocesses using a wide array of biotechnology tools. The Laboratory practices Bioprocess Engineering as a means of transferring knowledge through engagement and learning, and in pursuit of discoveries that target development of systems that integrate biology with engineering to form tangible products and processes.

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