Prof. Owens to lead Sun Grant Center at SD State

Vance Owens

BROOKINGS – An alternative energy researcher at South Dakota State University has been named the interim director of the North Central Center of the Sun Grant Initiative. The center is based at SDSU.

Professor Vance Owens, a member of the plant science faculty for 16 years, will take on the interim post, replacing James Doolittle, who was recently appointed as SDSU’s associate vice president for research.

Authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill, the Sun Grant Initiative formed a network of land-grant universities and federally-funded laboratories charged with developing plant materials that can be used in the production of fuels like ethanol and biodiesel as well as a vast array of other products.

“Dr. Owens has been a key part of the Sun Grant Initiative since its inception,” said Kevin Kephart, vice president for research at SDSU. “Dr. Owens’ research program has focused on establishing proper agronomic management practices for several potential dedicated energy crops such as switchgrass, prairie cordgrass and cup plant.”

According to Owens, who earned his doctorate in 1996 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he first became interested in the field in 1999 by studying the use of native grasses on marginal land.

“It’s a natural progression,” Owens said of his move from the research lab and classroom to the administrator’s chair. “Now it’s my job to promote renewable energy.”

Owens will do that through the promotion of the development of feedstock, technology and processing; by facilitating research; and by helping people understand the importance of renewable energy.

As the director of the North Central Center, Owens will facilitate university research in 10 states: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Funding for Sun Grant Initiative research is provided by the federal departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Transportation.