The minor consists of a 14-credit hour sequence: 8 hours of graduate coursework in Fundamentals of Biorenewable Resources and Technology (3 cr), Biological and Chemical Catalysis (3 cr), The Evolving Chemical Industry (1 cr), and a Biorenewable Chemicals Entrepreneurial Internship (1 cr), and 6 credits of coursework selected from a list of courses reflecting CBiRC’s three technical thrust areas: New Biocatalysts for Pathway Engineering (Thrust 1), Microbial Metabolic Engineering (Thrust 2), and Chemical Catalyst Design (Thrust 3). Additional training for students in the graduate minor occurs through annual CBiRC center-wide meetings. Students present posters and learn about each other’s research findings, thereby gaining a better appreciation for both chemical and biological catalysis routes for producing biorenewable chemicals.
The new Biorenewable Chemicals Graduate Minor is designed to complement and enhance a broader more extensive educational mission, including: (1) Educating pre-college teachers; (2) Educating pre-college students; (3) Providing hands-on research experiences to undergraduates; and (4) Providing novel graduate curricula for students in CBiRC-allied fields. CBiRC is leveraging existing multidisciplinary efforts in biorenewables education at Iowa State University to accomplish its mission. The CBiRC education program includes individual and interactive components for pre-college teachers and students as well as undergraduate and graduate students. To maximize the educational impact created by the center, the high level of activity in the biorenewables area at Iowa State will be leveraged for new high-impact educational programs.
To learn more about this topic visit: Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC)
