<< return to program
Douglas
Haefele
Senior Research
Scientist - Trait
Discovery and
Technologies,
Pioneer Hi-Bred,
Johnston, IA, USA
International
Collaboration in
Biofuels Development
Wednesday,
September 15, 2010
11:30 - Noon
Abstract:
The raw material for
all biofuels,
whether directly as
in the case of
globally important
row crops or
indirectly as in the
case of municipal
solid waste, begins
with the sciences
that make up modern
plant breeding. Raw
material cost is one
of the primary
drivers of the cost
of biofuels. In
so-called first
generation biofuels,
i.e. the production
of ethanol by yeast
catalyzed
fermentation of
simple sugars
produced by
enzymatic hydrolysis
of starch from corn
grain, raw material
cost exceeds 60% of
the total cost of
goods. Whether the
target is hybrid
maize or short
rotation trees the
development of more
productive crops is
inherently a global
undertaking that
requires enormous
investment, access
to diverse
geographies that
make possible
multiple crop
generations a year
and agronomic
testing in diverse
environments, and
access to important
global markets for
seed products.
Biography
Doug Haefele is
senior research
scientist at Pioneer
Hi-Bred, A DuPont
Business. His
responsibilities
include identifying
opportunities to
differentiate the
value of corn grain
for biofuels
production and other
end-uses and the
development of
analytical and
bioassay techniques
for quantitation of
compositional and
functional
properties of corn
grain.
Doug has been
involved with
several other
research projects
since joining
Pioneer in 1986.
These include
developing
biological controls
of soil borne seed
pathogens and in
situ manipulation of
microbial consortia
to degrade/detoxify
environmental
contaminants. He
earned a Bachelor of
Science degree in
Botany from the
University of Rhode
Island where he
worked in the lab of
Linda A. Hufnagel; a
master’s degree from
Yale University
where he worked with
William H. Smith in
microbial ecology;
and a Ph.D. from the
University of
California at
Berkeley where he
worked with Steven
E. Lindow in
molecular microbial
ecology. Doug is a
member of the
American Association
for the Advancement
of Science and Sigma
Xi, The Scientific
Research Society.
