Alcorn hires scientist to lead bioenergy research initiative

Alcorn hires scientist to lead bioenergy research initiative

The School of Agriculture, Research, Extension and Applied Sciences (AREAS) recently hired Dr. Ananda Nanjundaswamy to lead the bioenergy research initiative at Alcorn State University, according to Dr. Barry L. Bequette, dean and director of Land-grant Programs.

Dr. Nanjundaswamy, a native of Bangalore, India, attained his doctorate degree from the Department of Grain Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University (KSU), Manhattan, Kansas, with specializations in bioprocessing and bioenergy. He also holds a graduate certificate in bioenergy and biobased product development from KSU. Before arriving at Alcorn, Dr. Nanjundaswamy was a postdoctoral researcher at Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM), Montgomery, Alabama, working on a million dollar research project on cellulosic biofuel funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Dr. Nanjundaswamy earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture and master’s agricultural biochemistry from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India. He has 15 years of bioprocessing research experience which includes eight years of industry research and manufacturing experience in bioproducts such as, enzymes, biopharmaceuticals and biopesticides.
In the last seven years, Dr. Nanjundaswamy has focused on first and second generation biofuels and their sustainability by value addition. His biofuels research at KSU and AUM resulted in three filed U.S. patents and one patent filed by a company. Additionally, he is a co-inventor in two granted patents in bioprocessing of pharmaceuticals. His research interests are bioenergy, feedstock evaluation for biofuel production, bioprocess optimization, enzyme kinetics in biomass deconstruction, chromatography and bioprocess scale-up.
Dr. Nanjundaswamy’s scholastic accomplishments are evidenced by at least 10 published original research articles and research presentations at numerous international conferences and workshops. He has served as a reviewer of several international journals, an external reviewer for the National Research Council, Government of Romania, and has chaired sessions at an international biofuel conference. Dr. Nanjundaswamy is a member of several international societies including Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, American Chemical Society, American Association of Cereal Chemists, American Feed Industry Association and Society of Research Administrators International (SRA Intl).

For more information on bioenergy, feedstock and bioproducts research, please contact Dr. Nanjundaswamy at [email protected] or 601.877.2314.

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