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AHB Newsletter – Volume 2, No. 4 [Winter 2013]

Editor’s Notes

Research, education, and outreach efforts continue to keep Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest’s partners busy this fall and early winter. This issue of AHB’s E-Newsletter covers bioenergy education workshops and programs that started this fall and research on fighting poplar disease. Oregon State University is running workshops for K12 teachers for the second straight year to bring bioenergy into the classroom. At Walla Walla community college, the bioenergy certificate and associate degree programs have started. The Hardwood Biofuels Wednesday Webinar series continues on January 8th, with the next webinar: Will Poplar Bioenergy Farms Maintain Soil and Water Quality? The AHB Extension Team is busy planning two 2014 conferences in Seattle on Northwest woody biofuels and short-rotation woody crops. Best wishes for the holiday season and the New Year from the entire AHB team.

Patricia Townsend, Ph.D.
Regional Extension Specialist and Educator
Washington State University
patricia.townsend@wsu.edu

Fighting Poplar Disease with Microbes

Posy Busby, a postdoctoral fellow jointly appointed with the University of Washington and the University of Idaho, studies how specific fungal microorganisms, known as leaf endophytes, help plants thrive. As a member of the Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest (AHB) Feedstock Team, she is working to discover which leaf endophytes help hybrid poplars resist disease and how they work.
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A teacher doing using markers to write on a poster.

K12 Bioenergy Education is Spreading Around Oregon

Over 40 teachers from 13 rural Oregon school districts have been learned about bioenergy and are returning to their classrooms with 20 bioenergy lessons to use with their K12 students. The K12 bioenergy education program, a partnership between AHB and Oregon State University’s (OSU) Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences (SMILE) program.
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Students working with electrical equipment

Bioenergy Education Program Launched at Walla Walla Community College

In September, Walla Walla Community College launched the new Bioenergy Operations Program designed to create a future workforce for the advanced hardwood biofuels industry. The program is aimed at students who are new to the biofuels, chemical, food, pulp, agriculture, and municipal wastewater sectors as well as people who are already employed in these industries.
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