Congressman, SIUE, LCCC leaders to mark ‘bioeconomy’ partnership
From Illinois Business Journal news services
EDWARDSVILLE – Congressman Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, will join Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe and Lewis and Clark Community College President Dale Chapman to celebrate the institutions’ ongoing partnership Building Illinois’ Bioeconomy at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 23, at the NCERC at SIUE.
In October 2014, the Department of Labor awarded a nearly $10 million grant to SIUE as part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) initiative. The grant provides funding for the BIB consortium, which is comprised of five higher education institutions spanning the state of Illinois: SIUE, Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg and Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg.
In June, BIB schools, federal and state lawmakers, Illinois agency heads and employer partners will come together for a project celebration, set to coincide with hands-on student training at the NCERC at SIUE, a nationally recognized research center dedicated to the development and commercialization of biofuels and other renewable compounds. During the grant-funded training, students from LCCC’s Process Operations Technology program will utilize the pilot plant as a “micro-refinery” to gain hands-on training on critical unit operations used in the petroleum, ethanol, and other PTEC industries.
The BIB consortium is 100 percent funded through the TAACCCT grant.
