Well before cellulosic ethanol became the hot new fuel, Lee Lynd was immersed in it. Since 1987, the engineering professor has been leading a major academic study group on cellulosic ethanol from his perch at Dartmouth. Before that, he even wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on it.
Lee Lynd.
Photo: Joseph Mehling/Dartmouth
More recently, Lynd has been putting his technical expertise to the test in the marketplace. In 2005, he cofounded Mascoma, a cellulosic biomass-to-ethanol company that has just completed its second round of venture funding with support from Vinod Khosla and other investors. (Lynd serves as chief scientific officer.) In April, Lynd and a colleague announced that they had developed a new, cost-effective method for pretreating cellulosic feedstocks at low temperatures for conversion to ethanol and other marketable byproducts.
Along with his laboratory research, Lynd has advised policy makers on how to advance biofuels, serving on an advisory committee to the Clinton administration, coauthoring studies with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental organizations, advising... Read more
