One of the most difficult parts of turning a town's waste into usable energy isn't the process itself—it's winning over community members who are most affected by landfills, according to Andy Gotsch, process engineer for Fiberight, a Maryland-based clean-technology startup that transforms waste into renewable biofuels.

You would think the myriad logistical and technical obstacles facing the clean-technology company would be the largest hurdles to the company’s success. But, in large part, the sheer innovation of the processes Fiberight uses has caused some people to become uneasy and mistrustful of the science behind transforming post-recycled municipal solid wastes and other organic feedstock into next-generation renewable biofuels.

“The hardest thing for us to do was to convince the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] that we’re actually recycling because the first thing people think when they hear we’re making trash into energy is incineration,” Gotsch says.

But since Fiberight launched in 2007, it’s made strides in getting buy-in from agencies and the community. Recently, the biofuels company was guaranteed a $25-million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s biorefinery program.

Making Use of an Abundant Resource: Trash. Fiberight produces cellulosic ethanol and biogas through a series of complex processes. These are built on a customized sorting procedure, pulping, enzymatic hydrolysis, and advanced recycling techniques. In other words, the company takes a community’s trash and transforms it into usable biofuel.

The company first established its pilot plant in Lawrenceville, Va. seven years ago, after purchasing a facility the previous owner had been using to process fiber to create organic insulation.

Courtesy Fiberight

“Fiberight purchased that plant and saw value in what the fiber could do, which in our case is convert it into C5 and C6 sugars [C5 (pentose) and C6 (hexose) act similar to yeast in creating alcohol—or cellulosic ethanol in this case], and then later ferment it into ethanol or butanol, depending on what the market’s striving for,” Gotsch says.

A Need for Manpower. Fiberight’s team of engineers and scientists developed and streamlined procedures to achieve expected results and turn a profit. But finding capable hands to manage engineering operations had been a perennial challenge.

Fiberight CEO Craig Stuart-Paul attempted to supplement a shortage in manpower by hiring an independent professional engineering agency to manage drafting and designing the recycling facilities. Ultimately, the strategy backfired because of cost overruns and less-than-positive results. The cost of a single phone call to the agency outweighed the return on investment.

Fiberight had a firm understanding of its own processes and design, but they needed the right people and tools. At that point, Gotsch and several other in-house engineers were brought on board, two of whom use Autodesk Plant Design Suite 2014—particularly AutoCAD Plant 3D—to save costs and close the gap between Fiberight and larger firms.

Drawing on the Benefits of Building Information Modeling. Fiberight is on a tight deadline to open its first commercial facility in Blairstown, Iowa later in 2014, and—using its BIM capabilities—AutoCAD Plant 3D is making it possible to improve collaboration with vendors and contractors.

Plant 3D has built in ASME and ANSI industry standards for equipment, which makes ordering parts more efficient and accurate. For instance, the Iowa facility will use a lot of stainless-steel piping, and when Gotsch routes pipes, the software knows the exact flange size and bolt-hole locations.

Courtesy Fiberight

“It’s not about ballpark quotes,” Gotsch says. “The company gets exact estimates, which helps Fiberight with savings and costs—because with construction, there are always cost overruns.”

After Gotsch sends the components out in a 3D model, the vendor or contractor can import the model, and it gives them accurate take offs—pipe locations, distance lengths, and elbows.

One of the big components to designing a plant like Fiberight’s facility in Iowa is having P&IDs (piping and instrument diagrams), effectively supplied by AutoCAD P&ID. The software demonstrates the benefits of BIM by allowing you to click on and identify specific pieces of equipment labeled in the P&ID and tabulate everything from manufacturer information, flow rates, and design sizing.

“We were actually able to route the pipe on the pipe rack in our 3D model, pull out the pipe rack, send it to our pipe-rack vendor, and they were able to give us a quote within a day based on constructability and installation,” Gotsch says.

Blairstown: A Key Partner. Fiberight chose Eastern Iowa for its facility because legislators there have mandated that local communities and governments bring their trash to a more sustainable outlet such as Fiberight, which can recycle waste in a cleaner and greener format. Of the trash Fiberight takes in, only 15 to 20 percent goes to a landfill—it’s eliminating 80 percent of the waste.

“The biggest thing is educating people,” Gotsch says. “In Iowa, we’re putting together an action group that’s going to go around and educate the community on our process.”

Courtesy Fiberight

This strategy has already paid off after CEO Craig Stuart-Paul spoke at the Marion Economic Development Co. annual meeting. The Marion City Council approved tax-increment financing worth $850,000 for a facility measuring 50,000 square feet in the Eastern Iowa town. This second location will play a crucial role in supporting the role of the Blairstown facility when it opens later this year.

Challenging the Status Quo. Not every process is smooth sailing for the clean-tech startup, though. It can be challenging for Gotsch to get his hands on customized equipment from vendors because Fiberight takes an unorthodox approach in integrating components.

“Some of the equipment has long lead, meaning it’s going to take eight months to construct one of these things,” Gotsch says.

For instance, Fiberight uses a specialized washing tunnel for processing municipal solid waste into feedstock for the production of compressed biogas and cellulosic ethanol. The company that supplies the washing tunnel builds them for naval ships, which use them to wash bulk loads of clothing in a centralized unit.

Fiberight, however, had different plans, and approached the company by saying, “We want to use your washer tunnel, but not for clothes—for trash,” Gotsch recalls. Much like the community in Iowa that will eventually benefit from Fiberight’s new facility, many suppliers required some assurance.

According to Gotsch, Fiberight spent a lot of time educating its partners on the company’s process of converting waste into fuel and the need to wash the garbage beforehand. Fiberight also spent time convincing them the washer tunnel supplier’s equipment could be used as Fiberight planned. “They don’t feel comfortable with it because they’ve never done it,” he says.

Courtesy Fiberight

With plans in the works for the Blairstown plant, this could be a potentially serious obstacle. “If we’re trying to get this plant up and running before the end of this year, that makes things really tight,” Gotsch says. “One of the biggest challenges is trying to schedule when we’re going to order equipment so that it cascades in the order that we need to receive it.” Fortunately, by developing strong relationships with suppliers, Fiberight is getting a firmer idea of when equipment will be available.

Adapting Practices. Fiberight has seen its processes change over the past seven years because the company is always trying to improve the process, whether at its pilot plant in Virginia or with its forthcoming facility in Iowa. “We’re always trying to consolidate the amount of equipment we need,” Gotsch says. “The bigger the plant is, the more equipment there is, the more expensive it is, the longer it takes to get a return on investment. So, our job is not only to make sure that the plant works, but also to make sure it runs safely and is cost effective.”

In addition to paring down equipment, Gotsch and his team are changing mass and energy parameters in equipment to yield a higher conversion rate and increase profits.

Learn more about eliminating waste and saving money in construction projects by reading about BIM for prefabrication. And to learn more about Fiberight’s story, check out this video from Autodesk:

The Protein Society announces its 2014 award recipients

The 28th Annual Symposium of the Protein Society Awards

BALTIMORE, MD – The Protein Society, the only international society devoted to furthering research aimed at understanding proteins, announces the winners of The 2014 Protein Society Awards. The awards will be conferred at the 28th Annual Symposium of The Protein Society (July 27-30, 2014, San Diego, CA, USA). Plenary talks from each recipient are scheduled throughout the 3.5 day event.

The Carl Brändén Award, sponsored by Rigaku Corporation, is given to an outstanding protein scientist who has also made exceptional contributions in the areas of education and/or service to the science. The 2014 recipient of this award is Dr. Stephen H. White (University of California, Irvine) in recognition of his many contributions to the field of membrane protein folding, his long service to the protein science community, and his skills as an educator of graduate students and postdocs in particular. His research has provided much fundamental insight into the thermodynamics of folding in and on the membrane. Dr. White has made major contributions to multiple scientific societies, including The Protein Society, and --among other service activities-- maintains the widely-utilized Membrane Proteins of Known 3D Structure website.

The Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award, sponsored by Genentech, is granted in recognition of exceptional contributions in protein science which profoundly influence our understanding of biology. The 2014 award will be presented to Dr. Judith Frydman (Stanford University) for exceptional contributions to our understanding of protein folding in eukaryotic cells. Dr. Frydman uses creative combinations of biochemical, genetic, biophysical, and computational analysis to dissect the mechanisms by which cells manage misfolded proteins, with a particular focus on the group II cytosolic chaperonin TRiC.

The Hans Neurath Award, sponsored by The Neurath Foundation, recognizes individuals who have made a recent contribution of unusual merit to basic research in the field of protein science. In 2014 the Hans Neurath Awardee is Dr. James H. Hurley (University of California, Berkeley) for his ground-breaking contributions to structural membrane biology and membrane trafficking. Throughout his career, Dr. Hurley has produced fundamental insights about proteins that function at the membrane-solvent interface, including how signaling molecules interface with and are regulated by lipids, mechanisms of vesicle formation by ESCRT machinery, and, most recently, the regulation of clathrin coated vesicle formation and the initiation of autophagy.

The Christian B. Anfinsen Award, sponsored by The Protein Society, recognizes significant technical achievements in the field of protein science. The recipient of this award in 2014 is Dr. Robert Tycko (National Institutes of Health) for his seminal contributions to the development of modern solid state nuclear magnetic resonance methods for structural investigations of proteins and influential studies on amyloid fibrils associated with neurodegeneration and disease. Dr. Tycko's achievements in this area are highlighted by his recent presentation of the first detailed structure of β-amyloid fibrils from Alzheimer's disease brain tissue and evidence for structural variations that underlie prion diseases.

The Emil Thomas Kaiser Award, sponsored The Protein Society, recognizes a recent, highly significant contribution to the application of chemistry in the study of proteins. The 2014 awardee is Dr. Carol Fierke (Dept. of Chemistry, University of Michigan). Dr. Fierke is being recognized for her exceptional contributions to our understanding of the metal homeostasis, and to understanding of the structure and mechanism of ribonuclease P. Her research has combined metallochemistry, biochemistry, genetics and a wide range of spectroscopic techniques to uncover details of metal affinity, substrate specificity, and roles to catalytic activity in numerous biologically and medically important enzymes. Amongst her groundbreaking achievements include the development of protein-based metal biosensors and techniques for monitoring metal ions in vivo for probing metal transport and toxicity.

The Stein & Moore Award, sponsored by The Protein Society, is named for Nobel laureates Dr. William Stein and Dr. Stanford Moore. The award venerates their contribution to understanding the connection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the active center of the ribonuclease molecule. The 2014 awardee is Dr. Nikolaus Pfanner (Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Freiburg) in recognition of his contributions to understanding pathways of cellular sorting that underlie the biogenesis of mitochondria. His pioneering research includes the first comprehensive proteomic analysis of mitochondria, the discovery of three new pathways of mitochondrial import, and the reconstitution of mitochondrial import channels and unraveling mechanisms of protein translocation.

The Protein Science Young Investigator Award, named for the academic journal of the Society, recognizes an important contribution to the study of proteins by a scientist still in the early stages of an independent career. The 2014 awardee is Dr. M. Madan Babu (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge UK). Dr. Babu is being recognized for his contributions to our understanding of the principles of regulation in biological systems – especially in the fields of intrinsically disordered proteins and gene regulation. He was appointed in 2006 as one of the youngest independent group leaders in the Structural Studies division at the LMB. Dr. Babu employs an interdisciplinary approach, combining computational and experimental methods to investigate regulatory processes at multiple scales of complexity (ranging from the molecular to the genome level) across a wide range of model organisms.

Delegates, exhibitors, sponsors and the press can learn more about the 28th Annual Symposium at The Protein Society web site http://www.proteinsociety.org/symposium or by calling (443) 543-5451.

The Protein Society is the leading international Society devoted to furthering research and development in protein science. Founded in 1986, the purpose of the Society is to provide international forums to facilitate communication, cooperation and collaboration with regard to all aspects of the study of proteins. In support of these goals, the Society publishes Protein Science, the premier journal in the field, hosts an annual international symposium, and facilitates the education of early-career protein scientists across all lines of discipline. The Protein Society members represent a wide spectrum of academic, industry, governmental, and non-profit institutions from more than 50 countries around the world. Media inquiries can be directed to Jody McGinness, Executive Director at (443) 543-5452

Monday, May 10th UMBC held a forest dedication ceremony with Dr. Hrabowski, along with local political and community leaders.

Speakers included President Hrawbowski, Baltimore County Councilman Tom Quirk, Delegate Steve DeBoy, Delegate James Malone, student representative Jack Nuemeier (The Garden at UMBC). UMBC's architect Joe Rexing, grounds manager Donna Anderson, landscape architect Phil Cho, and sustainability coordinator Tanvi Gadhia along with students Julianna Brightman and Kelsey Donnellan also represented UMBC in receiving the Tree Campus USA award from the Arbor Day Foundation.

Photography by Marlayna Demond.

Below is some of the text from the coverage in the Baltimore Sun.

UMBC has designated 11 acres of forest as a conservation area through Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which protects it from development and requires that trees remain on the land.

Joe Rexing, campus architect, said the conservation area, which is located on the edge of the campus near Wilkens Avenue and Interstate 695, between Poplar Avenue and Center Road on the outer loop of Hilltop Road, is part of a university plan to make the campus more sustainable.

"It provides us with an opportunity to protect, observe and conserve our natural environment," Rexing said the designation will protect Herbert Run, a stream that flows past the campus through Arbutus and is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Such forests are necessary to protect the habitat around the stream, Rexing said.

"It's very much a part of a more comprehensive statewide push to improve Chespeake Bay water quality, "

Tech Council of Maryland Names Winners of 26th Annual Industry Awards

Walk In Advising Hours May 19- May 23

Got a question? Need registration clearance? Stop on by!

Monday, May 19th
10am-11:30am
1:30pm-3pm

Tuesday, May 20th
10am-11:30am
1:30pm-3pm

Wednesday, May 21st
10am-11:30am
1:30pm-3pm

Thursday, May 22nd
Graduation – No Walk In Advising Hours

Friday, May 23rd
10am-11:30am

Advisors are also available by appointment.

The Summer Dissertation House is coming to UMBC, July 8-11. Graduate students who plan to participate should follow the application procedures on the application webpage for the Dissertation House.

Open application period: Early bird May 12, 2014 – May 23, 2014. Late registration May 24, 2014 – May 31, 2014 (Applications received during the early bird period will have priority)

(Please note that there are only 15 to 18 slots for this event, consider applying early) 

Applications received after May 31, 2014 will be considered for the DH waiting list. More information about the Dissertation House: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/about/

• The Dissertation House runs from 9 AM – 5PM, for four days, Tuesday, July 8 through Friday, July 11.
• Students must plan to attend the full session, for each of the 4 days. 
• Daily schedule includes 2 mini-lectures, and 5 hours of writing per day.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and a snack will be served daily.
• The July 8-11, 2014 Dissertation House is only available to UMBC’s graduate students.
• This version of the Dissertation House is open to all graduate students, in all disciplines.
• There are 15 to 18 spaces available for the Dissertation House. 
• Details regarding eligibility can be found on the application page of the website for the Dissertation House.
• Subscribe to the website: http://www.thedissertationhouse.com

Read about The Dissertation House in UMBC’s Alumni Magazine: Byrne, R.  (2011, Fall) “The Write Stuff”, UMBC Magazine. p. 12

Please login to MyUMBC, click “I can attend” here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/23911 , *AND* follow the 
application procedures on the main website for the Dissertation House: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/

There will be another Dissertation House at College Park, for students at UMCP, in mid-July. In August, we will hold a consolidated, marathon version Dissertation House for STEM graduate students of the USM, during the PROMISE Summer Success Institute.

The Dissertation Houses are co-sponsored by PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation (an AGEP-T project), The Graduate School at UMBC, and The Graduate School at The University of Maryland College Park.

Photo credit: pixabay.com, “PublicDomainPictures”

The Summer Dissertation House is coming to UMBC, July 8-11. Graduate students who plan to participate should follow the application procedures on the application webpage for the Dissertation House.

Open application period: Early bird May 12, 2014 – May 23, 2014. Late registration May 24, 2014 – May 31, 2014 (Applications received during the early bird period will have priority)

(Please note that there are only 15 to 18 slots for this event, consider applying early) 

Applications received after May 31, 2014 will be considered for the DH waiting list. More information about the Dissertation House: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/about/

• The Dissertation House runs from 9 AM – 5PM, for four days, Tuesday, July 8 through Friday, July 11.
• Students must plan to attend the full session, for each of the 4 days. 
• Daily schedule includes 2 mini-lectures, and 5 hours of writing per day.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and a snack will be served daily.
• The July 8-11, 2014 Dissertation House is only available to UMBC’s graduate students.
• This version of the Dissertation House is open to all graduate students, in all disciplines.
• There are 15 to 18 spaces available for the Dissertation House. 
• Details regarding eligibility can be found on the application page of the website for the Dissertation House.
• Subscribe to the website: http://www.thedissertationhouse.com

Read about The Dissertation House in UMBC’s Alumni Magazine: Byrne, R.  (2011, Fall) “The Write Stuff”, UMBC Magazine. p. 12

Please login to MyUMBC, click “I can attend” here: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/23911 , *AND* follow the 
application procedures on the main website for the Dissertation House: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/apply/

There will be another Dissertation House at College Park, for students at UMCP, in mid-July. In August, we will hold a consolidated, marathon version Dissertation House for STEM graduate students of the USM, during the PROMISE Summer Success Institute.

The Dissertation Houses are co-sponsored by PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation (an AGEP-T project), The Graduate School at UMBC, and The Graduate School at The University of Maryland College Park.

Photo credit: pixabay.com, “PublicDomainPictures”

The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Academies has released of a report entitled At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy: Some Basic Concepts and Issues in prepublication form. The final book version of the report will be available around end of May, and a PDF of that final version will also be available for free at this web site.

According to the study director and CSTB chief scientist Dr. Herb Lin, “This report is a first for CSTB in that it seeks to distill the cybersecurity wisdom and insight of this entire body of Academy work in a form that is easily accessible to nonspecialists. It provides the essential technical background for understanding cyber threats and the basic principles of cybersecurity, and is pretty much self-contained in this regard. At the same time, it underscores the point that improvements in cybersecurity depend at least as much on non-technical factors, based in fields such as economics and psychology, as on secure code or tamper-resistant hardware.”

National Research Council. At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy: Some Basic Concepts and Issues. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2014.   ( Download )

We depend on information and information technology (IT) to make many of our day-to-day tasks easier and more convenient. Computers play key roles in transportation, health care, banking, and energy. Businesses use IT for payroll and accounting, inventory and sales, and research and development. Modern military forces use weapons that are increasingly coordinated through computer-based networks. Cybersecurity is vital to protecting all of these functions. Cyberspace is vulnerable to a broad spectrum of hackers, criminals, terrorists, and state actors. Working in cyberspace, these malevolent actors can steal money, intellectual property, or classified information; impersonate law-abiding parties for their own purposes; damage important data; or deny the availability of normally accessible services. Cybersecurity issues arise because of three factors taken together – the presence of malevolent actors in cyberspace, societal reliance on IT for many important functions, and the presence of vulnerabilities in IT systems. What steps can policy makers take to protect our government, businesses, and the public from those would take advantage of system vulnerabilities?

At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy offers a wealth of information on practical measures, technical and nontechnical challenges, and potential policy responses. According to this report, cybersecurity is a never-ending battle; threats will evolve as adversaries adopt new tools and techniques to compromise security. Cybersecurity is therefore an ongoing process that needs to evolve as new threats are identified. At the Nexus of Cybersecurity and Public Policy is a call for action to make cybersecurity a public safety priority. For a number of years, the cybersecurity issue has received increasing public attention; however, most policy focus has been on the short-term costs of improving systems. In its explanation of the fundamentals of cybersecurity and the discussion of potential policy responses, this book will be a resource for policy makers, cybersecurity and IT professionals, and anyone who wants to understand threats to cyberspace.