News

June 17, 2024 Dr. Elmin Rahic, a recent PhD graduate from Iowa State, has joined the labs of Dr. Chris Costello and Dr. Juliana Vasco, to work on modeling sustainable grass-to-gas systems. Welcome, Elmin!

June 5, 2024 Bioeco Lab members, Camila Valderrama, Hunter Porcano, and Juliana Vasco attended the annual meeting of the Consortium for Cultivating Human And Naturally reGenerative Enterprises (C-CHANGE) project, held in Syracuse, NY, June 3-5. They came back energized to continue working on the assessment of grass-to-gas technologies in the context of sustainable bioeconomies.

May 5, 2024 Yajie Wu received a dual-title PhD in Biorenewable Systems and Operations Research in a ceremony held at the Pegula Ice Arena. Yajie’s research focused on superstructure process optimization of lignin valorization. 

May 5, 2024 Emily Rademacher graduated with a Master of Science in Biorenewable Systems at the Bryce Jordan Center. Emily has a BS in the same field and her thesis research focused on the technical and economic analysis of hop pelleting in Pennsylvania.

May 3, 2024 Vancie Peacock and Hunter Porcano received their B.S. degrees in biological engineering, as well as their medals of honor from the Schreyer Honor School for completing their honor’s program. We are so proud of your hard work during these four years, congratulations!

May 2, 2024 Vancie Peacock received the Oustanding Senior Award from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

May 2, 2024 Hunter received the Karl Snyder Award from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering for her service as president of the Penn State student chapter of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

Apr 19, 2024  Lab members Camila Gonzalez and Hunter Porcano presented research posters at the 2024 Penn State Biorenewables Symposium.

Apr 18, 2024  The theses of Biological Engineering students Hunter Porcano and Vancie Peacock were approved by the Schreyer Honors College. Hunter and Vancie developed techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment models to evaluate technologies to improve the sustainability of dairy farms in Pennsylvania. They celebrated the thesis acceptance by hitting the gong! Congratulations Hunter and Vancie on your hard work.

Apr 17, 2024  Vancie Peacock presented her research at the 2024 Penn State Undergraduate Exhibition.

Apr 6, 2024  Vancie Peacock has been awarded the National Science Fundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Vancie will attend Duke University to pursue a PhD in Environmental Engineering.

Apr 6, 2024  Dr. Vasco presented a talk on Bioeconomy Solutions at the Chemical Engineering Department Seminar of the New Mexico State University, in Las Cruces, NM.

Apr 3, 2024  Biological Engineering student Vancie Peacock received the first place award for her poster presentation in the Environmental Systems division at the 2024 Gamma Sigma Delta research expo. Congratulations, Vancie!

Mar 27, 2024  Bioeco Lab researchers and Biological Engineering students Vancie Peacock, Hunter Porcano, and Tate Geiger presented their research project at the 2024 Gamma Sigma Delta research expo. 

Mar 1, 2024  Dr. Vasco was invited to attend the First Connections to Sustain Science in Latin America Symposium sponsored by the National Academy of Science (NASEM) in Barranquilla, Colombia. In this symposium, she shared the broad spectrum of the Bioeco Lab research and established new connections for future collaborations.

Feb 21, 2024  Yajie Wu unanimously passed her Ph.D. dissertation defense and will become the first Ph.D. to graduate from the Bioeco Lab. Yajie will obtain a dual-title in Biorenewable Systems and Operations Research. Yajie’s dissertation is entitled “Lignin Valorization In Lignocellulosic Biorefineries Through Biological Upgrading: A Superstructure-Based Optimization Approach For Economic And Environmental Evaluation”. Congratulations Yajie, we are so proud of your accomplishments!

Jan 31, 2024  Emily Rademacher unanimously passed her M.S. thesis defense to obtain the title of Master of Science in Biorenewable Systems. Emily’s thesis is entitled “Enhancing pellet quality and return on investment for small hop enterprises in Pennsylvania”. Congratulations Emily!

Jan 8, 2024  Camila Valderrama and Johannes Ali will be starting MS degrees this spring semester. Camila will work on techno-economic analysis of anaerobic digestion as part of the Grass-to-Gas project, and Johannes will join the team of the project in methane biofiltration. Welcome to the Bioeco Lab!

Dec 21, 2023  PhD Candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango received an award from the CAS Graduate Student Competitive Grants Program to continue her research on methane biofiltration systems. Congratulations!

Dec 4, 2023  BRS PhD Candidate Yajie Wu presented her dissertation work on lignin valorization superstructures at the ABE departmental seminar.

Dec 4, 2023  ABE PhD Candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango passed her comprehensive exam. Congratulations!

Nov 6, 2023  BRS MS student Emily Rademacher presented her thesis work on hop pelleting at the ABE departmental seminar.

Sep 29, 2023  PhD Candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango received the Harold V. and Velma B. Walton Doctoral Student Endowment Award from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, in recognition of her extraordinary achievements. Congratulations!

Aug 12, 2023  Tykeesha Jefferson graduated in the summer ceremony with a Master of Science in Biorenewable Systems. Tykeesha is the first graduate student from the Bioeco Lab to finalize her studies and we could not be prouder. Congratulations, Ty!

Aug 2, 2023  Camila Gonzalez Arango, Tykeesha Jefferson, Emily Rademacher, and Vancie Peacock presented their research at the 2023 Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference (NABEC).

Jul 20, 2023  ABE PhD candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango was selected through a competitive process as one of 25 attendees to the 2023 Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) Summer School, on “Demistifying Multiomics with Data Science.”

Jul 12, 2023  A group formed by BE students Vancie Peacock and Hunter Porcano and ABE PhD candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango received the second place award in the Bioprocess Startup Competition during ASABE AIM in Omaha, NE, with their project “Friendly Filters.”

Jul 12, 2023  Members of the Vasco Bioeco Lab participated and presented at the 2023 ASABE Annual International Meeting and the associated Circular Bioeconomy Systems Day in Omaha, NE. Presentations included oral invited and contributed talks, and poster presentations. 

Jul 6, 2023  The review article entitled “Advances in microbial pretreatment for biorefining of perennial grasses“, authored by Dr. Juliana Vasco-Correa in conjunction with collaborators in the Colombian Society of Physics Engineering and the Colombian Marine and Coastal Research Institute was published in the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Jun 30, 2023  Engineering Design M.S. student Shakthi Suresh, co-advised with Dr. Mariantonieta Gutierrez Soto, obtained unanimous approval of his thesis entitled “User-centered design and construction of a modular biofilter system for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions”. Congratulations!

Jun 21, 2023  Tykeesha Jefferson unanimously passed her M.S. thesis defense to obtain the title of Master of Science in Biorenewable Systems. Tykeesha’s thesis is entitled “Modeling the Hop Pelleting Production Process for Small Scale PA Growers”. Congratulations Ty!

Jun 16, 2023  PhD candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango gave an invited talk on the Microbial Technologies to Mitigate Methane Emissions session of the Climate Change track of the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, ASM Microbiome, held in Houston, TX.

Jun 13, 2023  PhD candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango was awarded the 2023 Barbara Howell Raphael Educational Equity Graduate Scholarship from the College of Agricultural Sciences. Congratulations!

Jun 12, 2023  Kimeal Parham, a genetic engineering undergraduate student from Cedar Crest College, joined the Vasco Bioeco Lab through the National Summer Undergraduate Program (NSURP) to work on the biology and economics of methane biofiltration. Welcome, Kimeal!

May 15, 2023  Recent BioReneawable System graduate Clara McCahren joined the Vasco Bioeco Lab to work as a summer scholar in the Gas-to-Grass project to perform technoeconomic analysis of renewable natural gas production from herbaceous biomass. Welcome, Clara!

May 1, 2023  Biological Engineering student Vancie Peacock received the Udall Undergraduate Scholarship.

Apr 28, 2023  Biological Engineering student Vancie Peacock received the first place award in the Engineering category at the 2023 Penn State Undergraduate Research Exhibition.

Apr 25, 2023  Biological Engineering student Vancie Peacock received the CoA 2023 Summer research award to fund her summer research on methane biofiltration.

Apr 21, 2023  PhD Candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango was awarded the first place for her poster presentation at the 2023 annual Biorenewable Symposium organized by the Center for Biorenewables at Penn State.

Apr 15, 2023  Dr. Vasco presented about methane biofiltration and the future of bioprocessing for the bioeconomy at the 2023 Annual Conference of the Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE) in Ames, Iowa. She also chaired the bioprocessing section.

Apr 12, 2023  Undergraduate student Vancie Peacock presented her research in methane oxidation in compost at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Exhibition.

Apr 12, 2023  PhD candidate Yajie Wu presented her research in superstructure optimization of lignin valorization routes at the 2023 College of Engineering Research Symposium.

Apr 11, 2023  PhD candidate Yajie Wu and master student Tykeesha Jefferson both received third-place awards in the engineering category for their poster presentations at the 2023 Graduate Exhibition. Congratulations!

Apr 5, 2023  Undergraduate student Vancie Peacock and graduate student Tykeesha Jefferson received first and third place awards in their respective categories for their poster presentations at the 2023 Gamma Sigma Delta Research Exhibition.

Apr 3, 2023  Camila Gonzalez Arango received the 2023 Ardeth and Norman Frisbey International Graduate Student Leadership Award from Penn State Global.

Mar 30, 2023   Yajie Wu, Tykeesha Jefferson, and Vancie Peacock presented their research results at the Gamma Sigma Delta Research Symposium.

Mar 28, 2023   Biorenewable systems MS student, Tykeesha Jefferson, presented her research in techno-economic analysis of small-scale hop production in Pennsylvania during the ABE department graduate seminar.

Mar 25, 2023   Biorenewable systems graduate students Yajie Wu and Tykeesha Jefferson presented their research results at the Penn State Graduate Exhibition.

Mar 15, 2023   Biological Engineering student Vancie Peacock has received the Erickson Discovery Grant to start her honor’s thesis research during the summer. 

Mar 3, 2023   ABE PhD candidate Camila Gonzalez Arango has been awarded the 2023 Ardeth and Norman Frisbey International Graduate Student Leadership Award from Penn State Global. Congratulations! 

Dec 8, 2022   Biorenewable Systems PhD candidate Yajie Wu has passed her comprehensive exam. Congratulations in this new milestone, Yajie! 

Nov 17, 2022   Dr. Vasco gave a talk about the economics of agricultural anaerobic digesters in the Manure Management and Utilization Technologies Extension Workshop hosted by Purdue University. 

Oct 21, 2022   Dr. Vasco spoke about the potential for “recarbonization” in material research during the breaout session “Materials and Processes Challenges and Opportunities in the Transformation of Carbon and Hydrogen Economies” on Materials Day . 

Sep 22, 2022   PhD student Camila Gonzalez Arango passed her qualifying examination. Thanks to her qualifying committee, Drs. Suat Irmak, Hojae Yi, and Tom Richard.

Aug 2, 2022   Graduate student Tykeesha Jefferson recevied the second place in the gradaute student poster competition during the 2022 Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference (NABEC) in Edgewood, MD.

Aug 1, 2022   Graduate students Camila Gonzalez and Tykeesha Jefferson, and undergraduate researcher Vancie Peacock presented their research at the 2022 Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference in Edgewood, MD.

Jul 18, 2022   Graduate student Camila Gonzalez and Bioeco Lab PI Juliana Vasco-Correa attended and presented research during the 2022 Annual International Meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and the multistate project meeting S-1075 – The Science and Engineering for a Biobased Industry and Economy.

May 15, 2022   Emily Rademacher, a recent graduate from the Biorenewable Systems Management program at Penn State, has joined the Bioeco Lab to study pelletization of hops. Welcome to the team, Emily!

May 13, 2022   Dr. Vasco-Correa was part of a panel on “Socio- and Technoeconomic Implications of Fungal Biomaterials” during the Fungal Biomaterials and Biofabrication Workshop organized by the Penn State’s Convergence Center for Living Multifunctional Material Systems.

Apr 14, 2022   PhD student Camila Gonzalez Arango was awarded third place in the poster competition of the Biorenewables Symposium. Congratulations Camila!

Apr 14, 2022   PhD students Camila Gonzalez Arango and Yajie Wu presented their research during the poster session of the Biorenewables Symposium hosted on campus and organized by the Center for Biorenewables.

Apr 11, 2022   PhD Student Camila Gonzalez Arango presented her research on process modeling of air biofilters last week in the College of Engineering Research Symposium and the Environmetal Chemistry and Microbiology Student Symposium.

Mar 24, 2022   Undergradaute researchers Vancie Peacock and Ryan Lopez and PhD student Camila Gonzalez presented at the Gamma Sigma Delta Research Exposition organized by the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State. They presented experimental and modeling work on methane biofiltration.

Jan 15, 2022   Grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board were awarded with Dr. Vasco-Correa as Principal Inivestigator, to study the technical and economic implications of implementing hop pelletization in small farms in PA and to develop decision-making tools for PA farmers.

Jan 3, 2022   Tykeesha Jefferson joined our lab as a new MS student. She will work on techno-economic analysis of small-scale agricultural systems. Welcome Tykeesha!

Dec 18, 2021   Congratulations to our lab member Meghan on her graduation!

Dec 15, 2021   PhD student Yajie Wu passed her qualifier exam today and became a PhD Candidate. 

Nov 7, 2021   Our undergraduate researcher Vancie Peacock will be presenting her summer 2021 research on November 10, 2021 at the Student Engagement Expo.

Oct 15, 2021   Dr. Vasco-Correa and a team of ABE professors have received a $150K grant from the USDA Higher Education Challenge (HEC) program to revitalize the Biorenewable Systems Program undergraduate program.

Oct 6, 2021  PhD student Yajie Wu presented her research on superstructure analysis of lignin biorefineries last week in the Institute of Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) symposium.

Oct 1, 2021  We have published a review paper on Bioresource Technology Reports showing that the use of consortia with white rot fungi for biorefining can enhance the yield of products from biomass, likely due to antagonistic interactions between strains promoting enzyme expression. Read it here.

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Aug 17, 2021  We have published a new collaborative paper on Bioresource Technology Reports where we explore the hydrothermal carbonization of anaerobically digested sewage sludge to make bioproducts from waste. Read it here.

Jul 13, 2021  Yajie Wu will present this week in the American Society of Agricultural Engineers Annual Meeting, on her work about superstructure optimization of lignin valorization emerging technologies.

Jun 22, 2021  We have received a seed grant from the PSU Institutes for Energy and the Environment for methane emissions mitigation and carbon capture with biofiltration. Read more here.

Jun 1, 2021 Vancie Peacock has been awarded the Gerard A. Hauser Award (the best overall!) in the 2021 Penn State Undergraduate Exhibition for her work on LCA of hydrothermal carbonization for dairy farms. Congratulations Vancie!!

Apr 12, 2021  Congratulations to our own Vancie Peacock for her second place in the Gamma Sigma Delta Undergraduate Research Poster competition! Vancie presented her work on life cycle assessment of engineered management solutions for anaerobic digestate in dairy farms.