Dec. 1-2 Bioeconomy Conference is free to students

Learn about the latest research in biofuels, global climate change and energy supply issues at a two-day sustainability conference.

Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability
Dec. 1 and 2, 2009
Continuing Education Conference Center
University of Minnesota
1890 Buford Ave., St. Paul

Registration for both days is free for University of Minnesota students with a valid student ID, but space is limited. Lunch is not included.

Participants may also view the Dec. 1 broadcast from a personal computer for $50.

The conference is co-hosted by University of Minnesota Extension and the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.

About the conference:
The Dec. 1 portion of the program runs from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live to host universities throughout the Midwest, featuring cutting-edge researchers in biofuels as well as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack and U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. An in-person panel discussion will also take place in St. Paul.

The Dec. 2 part of the program runs from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and will bring together in-person players from Minnesota's bioeconomy-producers, landowners and community and business leaders-to identify ways they can participate in agriculturally-based solutions to global climate change and energy supply issues. Speakers include faculty and staff from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, the Institute of Technology, the Institute for Renewable Energy and the Environment, as well as government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

For more program details and registration, visit www.extension.umn.edu/biorenewables.
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Julie Christensen
University of Minnesota Extension
612-626-4077
reuve007@umn.edu