Rob Hocky
Then:I was a senior undergraduate student at Iowa State University working for Dr. Brent Shenks on catalytic pathways to convert sugars to nylon. This was following over 5 years of working under Dr. Robert Brown on bio-oil characterization produced from fast pyrolysis of woodchips and cornstover.
Now: I am a graduate student working on my PhD. My dissertation is on hydrothermal liquefaction of algae and the role inorganic solids have on the products from the reaction.
Inspirations: I feel like I’m making a positive impact on a large community/globe, thus improving the life for future generations. Also, we are accomplishing this goal by using our diverse knowledge and skills to discover new means and processes to make our solution work best.
Challenges: The business and market of the bioeconomy. It is volatile given the volatility of its closest and biggest competitor, the petroleum industry. The biggest challenge for the bioeconomy I foresee is the bioeconomy separating itself and creating its independence from petroleum. There are several ways to solve that issue through policy and infrastructure development. Similar to the tech-market, it would be cool to see if the bioeconomy could create a completely brand new product, such as the iPhone or an app, that people never thought they needed, but vastly improve their quality of life. Oftentimes, however, the bioeconomy is looking for a way to “substitute” or find an “alternative,” but if it found a completely NEW product several of the other challenges would be minimized.
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