Moving Forward: Annual Retreat Focuses on Future Progress

The Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation’s (CABBI) first annual retreat was July 11-12, 2018, at the Hilton Garden Inn, Champaign, Ill.

More than 140 scientists and staff from Illinois and its 17 partner institutions participated in informational sessions, progress and planning sessions for the three CABBI themes — Sustainability, Conversion, and Feedstock Development — and small-sided discussions with all three themes on how best to integrate people, resources, and information.

The Center’s mission is to develop efficient ways to grow, transform, and market biofuels and other bioproducts. CABBI officially launched as a new U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center in February 2018; the retreat ended with a set of preliminary, proposed Year 2 objectives — the first year the Center will be fully funded at $25 million.