Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Meeting with Dr. Carmela A. Bailey, NIFA National Program Leader-Agricultural Materials Participants met in Channel Hotel lobby at 3:15 p.m. on September 24 to discuss objectives, etc. for visit with USDA personnel. Following are the highlights of this meeting, held in USDA building at 4:00 p.m.: -Major reorganization in USDA with discipline focuses (e.g. soils and bioenergy). -Bioenergy has been recently the high priority area compared to biobased products. -Biomass feedstocks of priority are switch grass, energy cane, oil crops, woody mass, sorghum. -AFRI program is no more a single investigator and does not have textile in its scope. Now this program requires large coordinated agricultural consortia of various disciplines - CAP (coordinated agricultural projects). Three awards, each of $9 M for 5 years, would be granted. -Criticism for CAPs from various stakeholders (faculty, research fellow, etc.) -Biobased materials have long-term future, but current focus is on bioenergy (ethanol, hydrocarbon fuel, etc.). -Critical agricultural material program is on radar to be axed by congress. -In 2011 there is a possibility of the critical agricultural material solicitation in partnership with DoD. -Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) solicitation for 2011 includes funding support of around $30 M from USDA and $5M from DoE. This year's solicitation has opportunity for biobased products also. Attention for overall life cycle-team can include social scientist, biological scientist, economist, sociologist, etc. The S-1026 Technical Committee Multistate Research Project Meeting, held in the State Room at the Channel Inn in Washington, DC was called to order by chair person, Dr. Warnock, at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 25, 2010. General discussion involved the following topics: -Begin organizational plans and discussion for new Multistate Research Project proposal -Termination report -Development of New Research proposal -Drs. Parikh and French from ARS-USDA would be asked for collaboration (e.g., use of facility) for this new research proposal. -Seven states committed to participate: Georgia, Louisiana, Washington, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Texas, and Colorado. Participant members include Drs. Negulescu, Sharma, Sarkar, Yang, Chen, Sarmadi, Leonas, Wadsworth, Seshadri, Cloud -Dr. Shulstad, Administrator Advisor, at Atlanta annual meeting and Dr. Bailey, NIFA National Program Leader, stressed collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach of including a possible statistician, biologist, economist, or sociologist on the project. -Members introduced their 5-10 year vision and current research for seeking more interaction and collaboration. Dr. Ajoy Sarkar: -biobased industrial agricultural products -antimicrobial finishes Dr. Ioan Negulescu: -biobased material -metabolism of PHA, PLA -nonwovens-bagasse -solid state characterization and chemical characterization -algae pyrolysis Dr. Yiqi Yang: -agricultural bioproducts (protein, cellulosic) for textile, composite and medical -dry, wet and melt spinning facilities -cell culture Dr. Suraj Sharma: -biobased plastics/composites from biomass such as vegetable oils, proteins and lignocelluloses -algal bioproducts -microencapsulation of essential oils -medical implants -Molding (RTM, compression) facility Dr. Majid Sarmadi: -Plasma technology to save water and energy by modifying properties of fiber, film and composites -flammability (automotive and airplanes) Dr. Rinn Cloud: -product levels (protection, safety) -design facilities -physical testing Through this introduction the following four themes were identified: -biobased materials -fiber production -composites -antimicrobial Through our brainstorming process we have identified the following as a draft for a title and objectives for the new research proposal. Every participant member is required to contribute towards the justification and the current state of knowledge (review of literature). It was agreed to remove textile and dye words from the new proposed research project. In addition, everyone agreed that focus should be towards biobased fibrous materials and products. Moreover, participant members kept in mind that these objectives should not overlap with S1041 committee "The Science and Engineering for a Biobased Industry and Economy." Tile: Sustainable Products from Biobased Fibrous Materials Objectives 1. To develop novel biobased polymeric materials. 2. To develop and evaluate biobased fibrous products for eco-friendly crop protection. 3. To develop and evaluate biobased products for health and safety applications. 4. Life cycle analysis (LCA) of biobased fibrous materials. List of members showing their intent to participate in above objectives. Objective # Participant Universities 1 Louisiana, Nebraska, Georgia, Texas-Austin 2 Louisiana, Colorado, Georgia, Washington, Tennessee 3 Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas-Baylor, Georgia, Nebraska, Texas- Tech, Louisiana, Washington 4 All participating universities Following members were identified to lead editing works for this new research proposal Dr. Ioan Negulescu: Editor for objective # 1 Dr. Karen Leonas (?): Editor for objective # 2 Dr. Ajoy Sarkar: Editor for objective # 3 Dr. Ioan Negulescu: Editor for objective # 4 Dr. Yiqi Yang: Editor-in-chief Dr. Majid Sarmadi: Sub Editor-in-chief Timeline: October 10, 2010: send intent of participation from members for respective objective to Dr. Warnock, Chair person. February 1, 2011: objective editors to send their first draft to editor-in-chief participants follow the standard template (Appendix A: Format for Multistate Research Project Proposals). Go to http://www.umes.edu/cms300uploadedfiles/mrf_guidelines_revised_(10-2006)5.pdf for Guidelines for Multistate Research Activities. Follow APA style for reference citation. March 1, 2011: editor-in-chief presents first proposal draft to objective-editors March 15, 2011: objective editors submit the revision to the editor-in-chief. March 25, 2011: editor-in chief sends edited research proposal to participants. March 31-April 2, 2011: annual meeting is proposed with the location being Washington, DC. This plan will need to be accepted by Dr. Shulstad. Dr. Sharma volunteered to make hotel and refreshment arrangements, providing the meeting is approved by Dr. Shulstad. Invite program leaders from NIFA and other speakers (possible visitor from Louisiana for life cycle analysis) on Friday morning. Dr. Negulescu volunteered to arrange these speakers. Polishing new proposed research project and presenting annual reports on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Question: We need to ask Dr. Shulstad about S1026s NIFA representative. Like Dr. Bailey for S-1041 committee. A termination report for S-1026 will be due 6 months after termination of this proposal, i.e., March 31, 2012. Members agreed not to discuss the preparation of this report at this time and moved discussion until the fall meeting when final S-1026 reports will be given. Meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m., September, 26, 2010. Respectfully Submitted, Suraj Sharma Secretary, 2010-2011