Sources: Ron Madl, 785-532-7022, rmadl@k-state.edu;
and Carole Lovin, 785-532-4995, clovin@k-state.edu
Web site: http://www.sustainable-energy.ksu.edu

Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY EXPERT FROM FRANCE TO LECTURE AT K-STATE

MANHATTAN -- A noted international bioenergy researcher will visit Kansas State University Aug. 26-28 to lecture about bioenergy, meet with students and faculty, and tour K-State's sustainable energy research facilities.

Carlos Vaca-Garcia, professor at the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse in Toulouse, France, represents one of the three European university partners in a U.S.-European Union consortium sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education -- or FIPSE -- program, which continues through 2012. K-State is one of the three U.S. partners.

Ron Madl, director of the K-State's Bioprocessing and Industrial Value-Added Program in the department of grain science and industry, is the K-State FIPSE program director and will serve as Vaca-Garcia's faculty host during his visit.

The Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education program provides opportunities for outstanding seniors and graduate students to study at one of the EU-partner institutions by completing course work and/or research that broadens their field of study for food to non-food agricultural materials and applications.

Vaca-Garcia is the head of the international office of the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse's chemical engineering school, where he also heads the green chemistry section.

He will discuss academic-exchange opportunities in the program in a study abroad lecture from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, in Staterooms 2 and 3 at the K-State Student Union. Also attending will be Madl and K-State study abroad staff.

As a bioenergy-processing expert, Vaca-Garcia will present lectures for the departments of chemical engineering and grain science and industry. Both are open to the public.

His first lecture, "New Outlets for the Biofuels Byproducts in France," will be at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, in 1052 Rathbone Hall. Vaca-Garcia will discuss green ways of adding value to the millions of tons of byproducts generated by the bioethanol and biodiesel industries every year. His second lecture, "The Soybean Alternatives in Europe, will be at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, in 311 Shellenberger Hall. The lecture will discuss the European use of linseed oil as the European counterpart of industrial soybean oil, as the local production of soybean in the EU is quite limited.