Dr. Robert Brown is Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University (ISU). Dr. Brown is the founding director of ISU’s Bioeconomy Institute (BEI), which coordinates ISU’s research, educational, and outreach activities related to biobased products and bioenergy. Dr. Brown is also the director of the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies, a center within ISU’s Institute for Physical Research and Technology that conducts multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator research into thermochemical conversion of biomass. In addition to his journal publications, Dr. Brown has written three books including Why Are We Producing Biofuels, which received the Book of the Year Award from Biofuels Digest in 2012. He has been annually recognized as one of the “Top 100 People” in bioenergy by Biofuels Digest since 2010.