The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the University of Illinois has received a $10 million gift from Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick to support the creation of the Levenick Center for a Climate-Smart Circular Bioeconomy. In partnership with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), the center will serve as an interdisciplinary hub for research, education, and cross-sector partnerships in sustainability at the University of Illinois. Two key leaders of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center (ASC) have been appointed to endowed professorships as parts of the gift. Kaiyu Guan, ASC founding director and professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois will serve as the ACES Levenick Professor. Jeremy Guest, Associate Director for Research at the iSEE and professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will serve as the Levenick Center Director and iSEE Levenick Professor.
Kaiyu Guan, a leading researcher in agroecosystem sensing and modeling, is an expert in using advanced data science and supercomputing to support sustainable food and bioenergy systems. Guan is also the Blue Waters Professor of Supercomputing at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and Chief Scientist of the NASA Acres Consortium, NASA’s flagship program for advancing U.S. Guan is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and recent recipient of their James B. Macelwane Medal. His team recently developed a “system-of-systems” framework to quantify agricultural productivity and environmental impacts at scale and low cost. He has also created tools to help farmers make informed decisions about sustainable practices.
Jeremy Guest is a leading researcher in technologies and systems for conversion of agricultural materials and waste into valuable resources, and the recipient of the James J. Morgan Environmental Science & Technology Early Career Award. Guest noted “The transition from fossil carbon to renewable carbon feedstocks has the potential to support development across the rural-to-urban continuum in the Midwest and broader U.S., helping shift our national trajectory toward a sustainable, safe, and secure bioeconomy.”
Based at iSEE, the new circular bioeconomy center aims to promote recycling and regeneration in agricultural processes. Key initiatives include fostering public-private partnerships to create environmentally and economically beneficial strategies, and launching outreach programs. According to iSEE Director and ACES Distinguished Professor of Environmental Economics Madhu Khanna, “This new center and faculty hires will make the University of Illinois an unquestioned leader in research and education on a circular bioeconomy. It will nucleate a campuswide research and education program specifically designated for circular bioeconomy scholarship.”
“The visionary Levenick Center represents an exciting opportunity to draw on existing campus strengths and further develop cross-disciplinary partnerships toward a more sustainable future,” said College of ACES Dean and Robert A. Easter Chair Germán Bollero. “Further, the investments in scholars like Kaiyu Guan and Jeremy Guest, who embody the forefront of innovation in this space, will transform bioeconomies in ways we can’t even imagine.”
The initiative is further strengthened by a university-backed cluster hire of four faculty across multiple departments, enhancing cross-disciplinary collaborations in bioeconomy research. The integrated expertise will guide the Center’s efforts to minimize waste, recycle materials, and repurpose biological resources into food, energy, and biomaterials, creating a circular bioeconomy that supports both communities and ecosystems. “The Levenick Center’s generous support will further advance our research to help the farming industry and the economy as a whole transition to be more sustainable and resilient,” Guan said. “This work builds on the University of Illinois’ mission of transforming lives and serving society by putting knowledge to work with excellence.”
Read more in this news release from iSEE: https://sustainability.illinois.edu/isee-announces-director-professors-for-new-circular-bioeconomy-center/.