The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will present a lecture by Sam Jackson on the development of switchgrass as a bioengergy feedstock on Tuesday, March 29, at 7:00 p.m., Roane State Community College, Oak Ridge Campus, City Room in Oak Ridge.

Jackson works for sustainable, practical and economical supply chain solutions. As Genera Energy vice-president for feedstock operations, Jackson has worked to develop feedstock supply chains for bioenergy and bioproducts in the state and region. He has worked with the University of Tennessee’s faculty, legislators and farmers to spur the development of switchgrass as a bioenergy feedstock through the University’s Biofuels Initiative.

Jackson also holds a faculty position at the UT Institute of Agriculture, serving as a Research Assistant Professor in the University’s Center for Renewable Carbon. In his faculty role, he is focused on the research, development, and commercialization of sustainable feedstock supply chains for the emerging bioenergy industry.

Jackson works with a variety of feedstocks including perennial grasses, short-rotation woody crops, forest materials, and other agricultural crops and residues. A significant focus of his effort has been the $70 million University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative. The program, funded by the state of Tennessee, seeks to integrate the switchgrass feedstock supply chain with bioenergy and bioproducts industries in the state. The program has led to the establishment of switchgrass on local farms to supply the demonstration-scale biorefinery in Vonore.

Jackson has helped coordinate a regional grant program that has provided nearly $5 million for bioenergy research across the southeast. He currently leads a $2.3 million project focused on switchgrass production that was competitively funded by the Joint Biomass Research and Development Initiative of the US Departments of Energy and Agriculture. He is also part of another $4.9 million research project focused on high-tonnage logistics for switchgrass biomass.



Jackson received an undergraduate degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Science and his master’s degree in forest ecology and management from the University of Tennessee. He earned his doctoral degree in Natural Resources from the University of Tennessee as well.

For more information, call 865-483-3571 or log onto www.utarboretumsociety.org.

The UT Arboretum is a project of the UT Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center. The center is one of 10 such centers in UT AgResearch, a division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. In addition to its agricultural research programs, the UT Institute of Agriculture also provides instruction, research and public service through the UT College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine and UT Extension offices in every county in the state. For more information about the Forest Resources Center, please visit http://forestry.tennessee.edu/.