NC State Garners Alternative Fuels Grant from USDA

North Carolina State University will host U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and a representative from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to announce a new three-year, nearly $1 million grant to study the feasibility of growing genetically modified trees in North Carolina and using them to produce ethanol inexpensively.

The event takes place on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 3 p.m. in the Park Alumni Center on NC State’s Centennial Campus. Media coverage is invited. The Park Alumni Center is located off Main Campus Drive and Achievement Drive; ample parking is available. Access Main Campus Drive from Avent Ferry Road to Varsity Drive, or from Centennial Parkway to Oval Drive.

Dole and John Cooper, state director of USDA rural development, will provide remarks, as will NC State Chancellor James Oblinger and Dr. Robert Brown, dean of NC State’s College of Natural Resources. Dr. Hasan Jameel, professor of wood and paper science and the principal investigator for the grant, will provide an overview of the research project.

Following the program, Dole will tour a Centennial Campus lab as well as a greenhouse containing trees similar to the ones that will be grown in the study. Media are invited to tour the lab and the greenhouse. Transportation from the Park Alumni Center to the lab and greenhouse will be provided.