Multiple summer research internships at MasBio

3D Visualization for Engagement With Sustainable Forest Biomass Processes 2022 MASBio Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity Faculty: Aidan Ackerman, ASLA Project Site: Professor Ackerman’s lab (https://aidanackerman.com/landscape-visualization-lab), Department of Landscape Architecture, SUNY-ESF Project: 3D Visualization for Engagement With Sustainable Forest Biomass Processes Brief Description: Sustainable landscape management is often challenging to communicate to the public. These challenges exist for several reasons, including lack of familiarity with sustainable land management practices, negative perceptions of harvesting and tree removal, and the overall complexity of the practices and their involvement in intricate supply chains. This research proposes to address these communication and perception challenges through the creation of highly-realistic three-dimensional (3D) and virtual reality (VR) landscape visualizations. The specific focus of these immersive visualizations will be to show a MASBio trial site in Onondaga County as a virtual case study, visualizing its long-term management and contribution to environmental and economic growth. By creating a digital visualization of this trial site, public audiences will be able to engage with the project in a unique way that builds engagement, comprehension, and support for its sustainable landscape management practices. The outcomes of this work will be helpful to the MASBio project as the project will help in communicating the benefits of forest biomass to the public, creating a toolkit for involvement and advocacy for these sustainable harvesting operations. Background Required: Educational background in forestry, landscape architecture, or a related discipline, along with skill in 3D modeling and visualization. Knowledge of animation and video game design software is desired but not required. Additional Details: All students are expected to participate in person at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY for the duration of the program (Monday May 23 – Friday July 29, 2022) The stipend for this summer research opportunity is $6,000. The program will include field trips to biomass/bioenergy partners and facilities in the region. Transportation will be provided for these activities. Housing is available for the 10 week period in the dorm at ESF at a cost of $1,000 (https://www.esf.edu/welcome/campus/centennial.htm) Application: Submit your resume, a statement of interest (maximum of one page), college transcripts (unofficial is acceptable) and two reference letters for review to: Dr. Timothy Volk, 306 Bray Hall SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY 13210 or tavolk@esf.edu. Bio-based Building Envelope Retrofit System 2022 MASBio Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity Faculty: Dr. Paul Crovella Project Site: Wood Products Testing Lab (https://crovella.weebly.com/research.html), SUNY-ESF Project: Bio-based building envelope retrofit system Brief Description: The need to address climate change and forest carbon management use has never been greater. Simultaneously, many residents of urban communities live in homes that provide poor thermal comfort due to their age of construction. This project will connect the products from a working forest (wood substrate panels and wood fiber insulation) with the needs to reduce energy use and carbon emissions, to sequester carbon in the building stock and reduce energy expenses for communities. The bio-based panel will be an overcladding system which can be installed on the facades of existing buildings to encapsulate the walls and provide a 30-40% reduction in building heat loss. The project will use existing supply chains from the sawmills in the Mid-Atlantic to create a Cross Laminate Timber (CLT) substrate for the assembly. The insulative layer will be produced from wood fiber insulation, commonly used in Europe, and scheduled to be produced in the Northern Forest region. The panel design and fabrication will be performed off-site, based on a laser-scanned point cloud captured from the existing structure. The onsite installation will be aided by the relatively light weight of the system. The panels will be instrumented and field tested to confirm their modelled hygrothermal (heat, air, moisture) performance. Lifecycle assessments and economic analyses will be performed. Results from this work will be shared in publications and conferences. The outcomes of this work will be helpful to the MASBio project lay the groundwork for low value wood fiber in insulation and structural products. Background Required: Educational background in either of Agricultural, Civil, or Mechanical Engineering, forest biomaterials, construction/ construction science, or wood science and technology. Knowledge of wood laboratory operations would be a plus. Additional Details: All students are expected to participate in person at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY for the duration of the program (Monday May 23 – Friday July 29, 2022) The stipend for this summer research opportunity is $6,000. The program will include field trips to biomass/bioenergy partners and facilities in the region. Transportation will be provided for these activities. Housing is available for the 10 week period in the dorm at ESF at a cost of $1,000 (https://www.esf.edu/welcome/campus/centennial.htm) Application: Submit your resume, a statement of interest (maximum of one page), college transcripts (unofficial is acceptable) and two reference letters for review to: Dr. Timothy Volk, 306 Bray Hall SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY 13210 or tavolk@esf.edu. Biodegradable Bioplastic Production from Forest Residues Biomass 2022 MASBio Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity Faculty: Dr. Deepak Kumar, Dr. Timothy A. Volk, Dr. Obste Therasme Project Site: Dr. Kumar’s lab (https://sites.google.com/view/kumar-sbbl/), Chemical Engineering Department, SUNY-ESF Project: Biodegradable bioplastic production from forest residues biomass Brief Description: Plastic waste in the environment is a pressing and difficult issue to solve. The use of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), biobased and biodegradable plastics, as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics, can address this issue. Despite the significant interest and efforts, the process has not been very successful at the commercial scale, mainly due to high production cost and scalable supply of inexpensive carbon sources. Forest residue biomass (FRB) generated from harvesting operations, including tops and branches and low-grade material, is one of the lowest cost feedstocks available. This project focuses on developing sustainable bioprocessing technologies to produce PHAs from FRB. The specific focus will be on using low severity pretreatment and achieve high sugar yields during biomass hydrolysis that can ultimately lead to high amounts of PHA production and reduce production costs. The outcomes of this work will be helpful to the MASBio project as the project will help in realizing the sugar production potential using low-severity pretreatment on forest biomass, and the sugar produced from FRB could be used for the production of other bioproducts also. Background Required: Educational background in either of agricultural engineering, forest biomaterials, chemical engineering, wood science and technology, bioprocessing, paper science and engineering. Knowledge of biomass structure and conversion technologies would be a plus. Additional Details: All students are expected to participate in person at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY for the duration of the program (Monday May 23 – Friday July 29, 2022) The stipend for this summer research opportunity is $6,000. The program will include field trips to biomass/bioenergy partners and facilities in the region. Transportation will be provided for these activities. Housing is available for the 10 week period in the dorm at ESF at a cost of $1,000 (https://www.esf.edu/welcome/campus/centennial.htm) Application: Submit your resume, a statement of interest (maximum of one page), college transcripts (unofficial is acceptable) and two reference letters for review to: Dr. Timothy Volk, 306 Bray Hall SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY 13210 or tavolk@esf.edu. Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-based Systems 2022 MASBio Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity Faculty: Dr. Obste Therasme Project Site: Professor Therasme, Department of Sustainable Resources Management, SUNY-ESF, Syracuse, NY (https://www.esf.edu/faculty/therasme/) Project: Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-based Systems Brief Description: The student intern will be involved in research related to environmental life cycle analysis of the conversion of biomass resources into value added products. Sustainable biomass can be used as a feedstock for the production of heat, power, biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a science-based, comparative analysis and assessment of the environmental impacts of product systems. The student will develop system thinking skills, apply the ISO framework to perform the life cycle analysis, learn how to analyze and summarize the data, and contribute to the production of reports. The outcomes of this work will be helpful to the MASBio project as the project will help in communicating the environmental benefits associated with biobased products made from renewable biomass materials. Background Required: The ideal candidate for this position will: Be a senior or junior undergraduate student studying engineering, biosystems, sustainable energy or related major; Have basic understanding about system approach and life cycle assessment; Have good work ethics; Have a strong commitment to working with diverse individuals and communities. Additional Details: All students are expected to participate in person at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY for the duration of the program (Monday May 23 – Friday July 29, 2022) The stipend for this summer research opportunity is $6,000. The program will include field trips to biomass/bioenergy partners and facilities in the region. Transportation will be provided for these activities. Housing is available for the 10 week period in the dorm at ESF at a cost of $1,000 (https://www.esf.edu/welcome/campus/centennial.htm) Application: Submit your resume, a statement of interest (maximum of one page), college transcripts (unofficial is acceptable) and two reference letters for review to: Dr. Timothy Volk, 306 Bray Hall SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY 13210 or tavolk@esf.edu. Assessing Above and Belowground Carbon in Willow Stands 2022 MASBio Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity Faculty: Dr. Timothy A. Volk, Dr. Mark Eisenbies Project Site: Dr. Volk’s website (https://www.esf.edu/faculty/volk/), Department of Sustainable Resources Management, SUNY ESF and Research Page (https://www.esf.edu/willow/) Project: Assessing above and belowground carbon in willow stands Brief Description: Willow biomass crops are grown on marginal agricultural or former industrial land, harvested every 3 – 4 years and the biomass is used a feedstock for biofuels, bioproducts and bioenergy. Recent life cycle analysis results indicate that over its life span willow’s is carbon footprint is negative. This means that more carbon is stored in the system than is emitted during the planting, management, harvesting and transportation of the biomass. Key components that contribute to this negative carbon footprint are the carbon stored belowground in the root system and in the soil. Data on these components is limited to a few studies so there is a fair amount of uncertainty around these values. In order to provide more precise estimates of the sequestration potential of willow across the region more data on below ground biomass and soil carbon is needed. This project will collect additional belowground biomass and soil samples from sites in the region, process them to determine the carbon content and analyze the data. The outcomes of this work will be helpful to the MASBio project because it will address data gaps in belowground biomass and soil carbon in willow crops and increase the precision of the assessments of the carbon sequestration potential of these systems. Background Required: Educational background in forestry, agriculture, natural resources and an interest and desire to work outdoors as well as in a lab setting. Some understanding of soils and experience with assessments of growth of forests or agricultural crops a plus. Additional Details: All students are expected to participate in person at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, NY for the duration of the program (Monday May 23 – Friday July 29, 2022) The stipend for this summer research opportunity is $6,000. The program will include field trips to biomass/bioenergy partners and facilities in the region. Transportation will be provided for these activities. Housing is available for the 10 week period in the dorm at ESF at a cost of $1,000 (https://www.esf.edu/welcome/campus/centennial.htm) Application: Submit your resume, a statement of interest (maximum of one page), college transcripts (unofficial is acceptable) and two reference letters for review to: Dr. Timothy Volk, 306 Bray Hall SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY 13210 or tavolk@esf.edu.