Soil Sampling on St. Lawrence Island

Ben Heavner

bdh32@cornell.edu

Graduate Student

Biomass Conversion Group
Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering
232 Riley-Robb Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-5701

Cornell University
The Walker Lab

  • Summary
  • Background
  • Coursework
  • Resources
  • Personal Site
  • Summary

    I'm finishing up my third year as a Ph.D. student at Cornell University, where I work in the Biomass Conversion group under the direction of Dr. Larry Walker in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering.

    Motivated by a strong interest in sustainability, I'm interested in applying biological processes to biomass conversion. My research currently focuses on optimizing fermentations (and fermentors) for the production of ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks. At the moment, I'm learning to build and use genome-scale computer models of yeast metabolism (aka systems biology).

    Academic and Professional Background

    Academic
    B.S. University of Puget Sound 1999
    Majors: Mathematics, Natural Sciences with an emphasis in Physics
    M.S. University of Colorado at boulder 2004
    Civil and Environmental Engineering
    Professional

    Cornell coursework to date

    • PHYS 7682 - Computational Methods for Nonlinear Systems
    • BEE 484 - Metabolic Engineering
    • MATH 426 - Numerical Analysis: Linear and Nonlinear Problems
    • BEE 687 - Sustainable Bio-based Industries
    • BIOBM 331 - Principles of Biochemistry - Proteins and Metabolism
    • BEE 671 - Analysis of the Transport of Water and Chemicals in Soils
    • BIOBM 440 - Laboratory in Biochemistry and Molecular biology
    • BEE 450 - Bioinstrumentation
    • CHEME 543 - Bioprocess Engineering
    • BIOGD 280 - Genetics

    Resources

    I host the following resources for research collaborators:

    Personal Site

    In addition to this website, my wife and I share a personal site at gretchen-and-ben.com, mostly to share pictures with our friends and family.

    Last updated: April 30, 2009
    bdh32@cornell.edu