Zhi-Hua Liu, PhD, is a tenured associate professor at School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University. He received B.S. (2010) and M.S. (2013) degrees from Tianjin University and a Ph.D. (2016) degree in Biochemical Engineering from the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Prior to starting his academic career at Tianjin University in 2020, he worked as a research scientist at College of Agricultural and Life Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States from 2016. Dr. Liu’s research interests include biorefinery, biofuels, lignin valorization, sustainable bioproducts and systems and synthetic biology. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and 5 book chapters. He has also contributed to more than 10 presentations at international conferences.
Art Ragauskas, PhD, held the first Fulbright Chair in Alternative Energy and is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Academy of Wood Science and TAPPI. He started his academic career in 1989 at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology and in 2003 transferred to the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In the spring of 2014 he joined the University of Tennessee, as a Governor’s Chair in Biorefining. His program is directed at understanding and exploiting innovative sustainable bioresources. This multifaceted program is targeted to develop new and improved applications for nature’s premiere renewable biopolymers for biofuels, biopower, and bio-based materials and chemicals. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 technical papers and has contributed to over 300 technical presentations at national and international conferences.