Hans P. Blaschek is a Professor of Microbiology and Director of the Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER) at the University of Illinois. He also serves as Assistant Dean of Biobased Research Initiatives in the Office of Research in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and is the theme leader of the Molecular Bio­engineering of Biomass Conversion Research Theme of the Institute for Genomic Biology. His research is focused on the acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation and he is cofounder of a company called TetraVitae Biosciences that is currently commercializing the production of bio-butanol.

Thaddeus C. Ezeji received his PhD in Microbiology in 2001 from the University of Rostock Germany under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Hubert Bahl. He joined Dr. Hans Blaschek ’s laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2001 as a postdoctoral research associate. Dr. Ezeji has been a faculty member of The Ohio State University since 2007, and his research has focused on fermentation, microbial strain development, metabolomics, and processes regulating the conversion of agricultural byproducts, coproducts, or wastes into biofuel and value-added products.

Jurgen Scheffran is a professor in climate change and security at KlimaCampus and the Institute for Geography of Hamburg University in Germany. Until summer 2009, he held positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), in the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security, the Departments of Political Science and Atmospheric Sciences, and the Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research. After his physics PhD at Marburg University, he worked at Technical University of Darmstadt, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Recent activities include the Renewable Energy Initiative at UIUC and related projects funded by the Environmental Council, the Department of Energy, and the Energy Biosciences Institute.