The University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), Riverside, Calif., USA, gives an annual Distinguished Service Award to an outside academic affiliate that has helped their center. This year, CE-CERT recognized Dr. Art Ragauskas, Governor’s Chair of Biorefining at the University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as the 2017 Academia Distinguished Awardee, based on his collaborative research activities related to bioenergy and pretreatment topics. 

Dr. Ragauskas’ collaborative efforts with Professor Wyman and Dr. Charles Cai have been key in helping advance CE-CERT’s innovated biofuel conversion technologies through the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC), the US Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office project, and the USDA Biomass Research and Development Initiative. This award acknowledges these collaborative effects which students, research scientists, and the broader engineering and science community have benefited from.