Bioprose Blog: Request for Information closes November 2, 2020
October 27, 2020
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Author: Valerie Sarisky-Reed, Director, Bioenergy Technologies Office
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BIOPROSE BLOG
To better understand the bioenergy workforce development landscape, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) would like assistance from its academic and industry partners to identify existing bioenergy workforce successes within the bioenergy industry and academic learning environment, as well as gaps that impede skill development and/or the recruitment of qualified individuals. BETO is seeking direct input through a Bioeconomy Workforce/Career-Development Request for Information (RFI). The evidence-based workforce development data BETO receives will assist in preparing the nation’s current and future bioenergy workforce for the rapidly and continually changing workforce demands to reskill and upskill in the bioenergy industry.
Exciting careers in the bioenergy workforce. Photos by Dennis Schroeder / National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Exciting, first-of-its-kind opportunities await those who enter the bioenergy workforce. One example is the groundbreaking collaboration between DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), LanzaTech, and Virgin Atlantic. This collaboration led to Virgin Atlantic’s first commercial flight fueled by recycled waste gas from a steel mill. You can read more here.
The RFI seeks information on existing bioenergy workforce development assets and gaps in the bioenergy industry and academia. BETO supports groundbreaking technologies to produce biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower (bioenergy) from biomass and waste resources.
The RFI can be found on the BETO website. Feel free to use the RFI Template Word document to respond to the RFI questions. Additional comments and recommendations are welcomed.
Submit your response to [email protected] by no later than 5 p.m. ET, November 2, 2020
Dr. Valerie Sarisky-Reed
Dr. Valerie Sarisky-Reed is the director of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). In this role, she manages efforts to improve performance, lower costs, and accelerate market entry of bioenergy technologies. She assists in overseeing strategic planning to meet aggressive goals covered by the BETO research and development budget of approximately $250M annually, working with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratories, academia, and industry.
Valerie has more than 30 years of experience in addressing energy and environmental issues faced by the United States and globally. In addition to her programmatic activities, she is a founding member of the Metabolic Engineering Working Group, chartered by the Biotechnology Research Subcommittee, an inter-agency coordinating committee under the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
She also spent two years serving the chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, helping to build bridges between DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in support of the bioeconomy.
She also served as acting director for EERE's Wind Energy Technologies Office, where she enabled the development of the most recent Multi-Year Program Plan, which focused heavily on bringing offshore wind to the United States.
The Bioenergy Technologies Office current focus areas include scaling up renewable hydrocarbon fuel technologies with an emphasis on sustainable aviation fuels and on the recycle and upcycle of plastics through DOE’s Plastics Innovation Challenge which aims to reduce ocean-bound plastic waste.
Valerie holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Senior Executive Service Career Development Program.