Our Governance Board
The CABBI Governance Board is entrusted with evaluation and endorsement of research strategy, budget, partnerships, and performance of the CABBI leadership. Its responsibilities are to: review and evaluate CABBI’s strategic directions; endorse annual research objectives and annual budgets; assess and evaluate the performance of the CABBI Director; authorize addition or removal of CABBI partner organizations; and make final decisions regarding CABBI issues in which agreement cannot otherwise be reached.
The Board is composed of research administrators from the University of Illinois campus, as well as an administrative official or executive from a few of the CABBI partners who has decision-making authority regarding the partner institution’s staff and physical resources. The members have expertise in administration of large programs, financial oversight, IP management and technology transfer, and CABBI research topics.
The members:
Chair: Susan Martinis, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Germán Bollero, Dean, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Harley Johnson, Associate Dean for Research, Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Venetria Patton, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Karla Ewalt, Senior Associate Dean for Research, Princeton University
Surya Mallapragada, Associate Vice President for Research, Iowa State University
Martin Schoonen, Associate Lab Director, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Oliver Schmitz, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs, College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Bob Wilhelm, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
The Board meets once every year; the CABBI Director and Board members can request additional meetings. Decisions are made by majority vote.

Members of the Strategic Advisory Board were in attendance at the 2023 annual science retreat.
Our Strategic Advisory Board
The CABBI Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) is made up of representatives from the other Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs) as well as academic, government, and industry experts in the bioenergy and bioproduct thematic areas of feedstock production, conversion, and sustainability.
This Board will convene annually to objectively evaluate the Center’s research progress and to guide future scientific directions.
The SAB, chaired by the CABBI Director, will help ensure that the CABBI projects remain in alignment with CABBI, DOE, and stakeholder priorities. SAB members might also be asked individually or in smaller groups to offer suggestions on a particular technical issue.
The SAB members:
Anthy Alexiades, Air Resources Board, California Environmental Protection Agency
Anna Dirkswager, Climate and Energy Director — Midwest Division, The Nature Conservancy
Steve Hartig, former Vice President of Technology Development, ICM Inc.
Travis Hedrick, Chief Executive Officer, AGgrow Tech
Kirsten Hofmockel, Senior Scientist, Earth and Biological Sciences Directive, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Tom Juenger, Professor of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin
Michael Köpke, Vice President for Synthetic Biology, LanzaTech
Jeremy Martin, Senior Scientist and Director of Fuels Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists
Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Vice President for Biofuels and Bioproducts, and Director of Host Engineering, Joint BioEnergy Institute — JBEI)
Will Schroeder, Head of Metabolic Engineering, Ginkgo Bioworks
John Sedbrook, Professor of Genetics, Illinois State University
Gregory Stephanopoulos, W.H. Dow Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kelly Tiller, President and CEO, Genera Energy Inc.
Erin Webb, Group Leader, Bioresource Science & Engineering, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Lead of Sustainability & Economics Team, Center for Bioenergy Innovation — CBI)
Cranos Williams, Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Analytics, North Carolina State University