Establishing and managing product development initiatives. Building technical collaborations. Determining process integration strategies. Securing intellectual property. Market sectors include thermosets and thermoplastics, concrete, and geotechnical applications.

Developed collaborative research and development projects across diverse application areas. Provided technical customer support. Developed scalable processes for bringing nanocellulose products to market.

Development of surface-modified nanocellulose for various high-value applications, including biocomposites. Research focused on developing economically viable processes which are readily scaleable.

PhD research focused on biomass-degrading enzymes, and what effects these enzymes have on a variety of lignocellulosic substrates (i.e. forest residues, corn stover, wheat straw). The goal was to better understand how these enzymes can be used to convert biomass into fuels, chemicals, and novel products. Research was performed within the Forestry Department with a focus on Molecular Biology/Biochemistry.

Completed two 6-month research projects. The first project involved using quantitative real-time PCR to monitor the expression of genes involved in lignin deposition in Arabidopsis for cellulosic biofuels applications, while the second focused on characterizing a cyanobacterial hydrogenase enzyme capable of producing hydrogen gas.

Summer research assistant in a biochemistry lab. Work included site-directed mutagenesis followed by expression and purification of novel proteins in E. coli.