$420,000 federal grant funds look at native grass for ethanol
AgBio CommunicationsJose Gonzalez, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Science, leads the SDSU team that has received a $420,000 federal grant to map the genes of prairie cordgrass, a native grass that could be used to make cellulosic ethanol. The team also includes Professor Arvid Boe, Professor Vance Owens, and Assistant Professor Xingyou Gu, all of the Department of Plant Science. The grant is courtesy of a joint program of USDA and the U.S. Department of Energy. The two-year study began Aug. 1 and is one of 11 projects funded nationwide to promote biofuels research.