Interns
Yelena Granovskaya is a junior at the University of Florida very interested in bioenergy and studying Environmental Science with a minor in Sustainability Studies. She spent her summer at the BioEnergy Summer School under Dr. Wilkie’s mentorship learning about bioenergy by growing sugar, oil, and fiber crops for biofuel production. Her personal project involved designing and developing a small-scale mechanical oil press that can be used for on-site biodiesel operations. Currently, Yelena holds the position of President of the BioEnergy and Sustainable Technology Society, a.k.a. BESTS, an organization dedicated to creating a community network by educating the public and facilitating discussions about the economics, politics, news, and science of renewable energy and sustainable technology. In the future, she plans on crossing the disciplines of science and public service to work in the fields of environmental law, public health, and development of energy efficient technology.
Kyle Fricker is entering his fifth year as a Chemical Engineer, and will graduate in December 2008. He is twenty-one years old and came to UF from Cocoa Beach, FL. He is very interested in sustainability and bioenergy, specifically in the form of biodiesel. He powers his VW Jetta with biodiesel, and will soon be filling it with homemade fuel refined from waste vegetable oil in Dr. Wilkie’s lab. Kyle is further interested in the opportunity to use algae as a feedstock for the biodiesel process. His personal project involves the extraction of oil from algal cells – a task that is very far from perfected. As we enter the era after peak oil, these technologies will become increasingly important to our civilization.
Jon Alldridge
Grant Baysinger
Eric Bendler