Alabama’s HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and several regional collaborators, including three Alabama universities, were awarded $1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create opportunities for the Southeast in carbon-neutral crop technologies.

The funded project, entitled “Advancing carbon-neutral crop technologies to develop sustainable consumer goods (AL, GA, NC, TN)” – “Greening the Southeast” for short – aims to develop a green bioeconomy for building materials and consumer goods that reduces climate change impacts from manufacturing by eliminating industry reliance on petroleum and environmentally costly fibers.

“Our team brings together researchers across plant genetics and genomics, crop breeders, and experts in biomass processing and biomaterial development to build a pipeline to create products from locally engineered and grown perennial grasses,” said Jeremy Schmutz, HudsonAlpha faculty investigator and principal investigator of the project. “We will use underutilized marginal land, improve atmospheric carbon sequestration, reduce imports and decarbonize industries, all while creating new jobs and training diverse individuals across STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines.”

The grant comes through the NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines, or NSF Engines, program. The Greening the Southeast team is among more than 40 teams to receive one of the first-ever NSF Engines Development Awards, which aim to help partners collaborate and create economic, societal and technological opportunities for their regions.

This graphic outlines the work of the “Greening the Southeast” partnership led by the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. (Greening the Southeast)

The team includes diverse partners across the Southeast, each bringing its own expertise to help answer the question, how do we develop and sustain a circular bioeconomy in our region? Joining HudsonAlpha are Alabama A&M University Winfred Thomas Agriculture Research Station, Auburn University, North Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Tuskegee University, the University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, Genera, the National Society for Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) and other agricultural and workforce development partners.

“As a leading manufacturer of perennial fiber-based products in the U.S., our company is excited to partner with the HudsonAlpha team on this effort,” said Sam Jackson, vice president for Feedstocks and Supply Chain for industry team member Genera. “This work will accelerate innovation in utilizing regenerative agriculture to provide significant decarbonization in products consumers use every day.”

The NSF Engines Development Awards will help organizations create connections and develop their innovation ecosystems within two years to prepare strong proposals for becoming future NSF Engines, which will each have the opportunity to receive up to $160 million.

“These NSF Engines Development Awards lay the foundation for emerging hubs of innovation and potential future NSF Engines,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “These awardees are part of the fabric of NSF’s vision to create opportunities everywhere and enable innovation anywhere. They will build robust regional partnerships rooted in scientific and technological innovation in every part of our nation. Through these planning awards, NSF is seeding the future for in-place innovation in communities and to grow their regional economies through research and partnerships. This will unleash ideas, talent, pathways and resources to create vibrant innovation ecosystems all across our nation.”

The NSF Engines program is authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. View a map of all the NSF Engines Development Awards.