DOE and USDA Award $8.3 Million for Biofuels Research
June 7, 2007
DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on June 7th that they have jointly selected 11 projects to receive a total of $8.3 million for biofuels research. The projects selected will focus on research in biomass genomics that will accelerate the production of alternative fuels from woody plants such as cord grass, rice, switchgrass, sorghum, poplar, perennial grasses, alfalfa, and wheat. This is the second year of the program; last year, DOE and the USDA awarded nine grants totaling $5.7 million.
Starting this year, DOE will provide $5.5 million in funding for seven projects, while USDA will award more than $1.5 million to fund three projects; one project will receive $1.3 million in joint funding from both agencies. The initial funding will support the projects for up to three years, and will support research at universities and research institutions in California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia, including DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. See the DOE press release and the Genomics GTL Web site, which includes detailed information on both this year's and last year's awards.