A plot of switchgrass grows in the Great Lake Bioenergy Research Center's fields at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station in Arlington, WI. Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Great Lakes Bioenergy

Great Lakes Bioenergy is a U.S. Department of Energy-funded research center dedicated to developing sustainable biofuels and bioproducts.

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Who We Are

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) is a U.S. Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Center led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison. With Michigan State University and other partners, we are developing sustainable biofuels and bioproducts made from dedicated energy crops grown on marginal lands. Our mission is simple: creating biofuels and bioproducts that are economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

Research Themes

Sustainable cropping systems

Engineering bioenergy crops to enhance their environmental and economic value

Generating multiple products from plant biomass

Understanding and optimizing the field-to-product pipeline

GLBRC alumni profile: Caro Córdova

Three researchers examine a small sample or label among tall grasses in an outdoor field setting, photographed from ground level with grass blades in the foreground under a cloudy sky.

Carolina (Caro) Córdova is an assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and a statewide soil health specialist with UNL Extension. With a PhD in soil science from Iowa State University, Córdova was a postdoctoral researcher and field research coordinator with GLBRC from 2018 to 2022.

GLBRC alumni profile: Brian Burger

A smiling man sitting at a desk behind an open laptop computer

Now a senior research manager for the animal genetics firm Genus, Brian Burger joined GLBRC in 2009 after earning a PhD in biology from the University of California-San Diego. Burger spent about 8 years at the center, first as a postdoctoral researcher and later as a staff scientist.