Research Staff
Learn more about the expertise and technical skills of the bioenergy and bioeconomy team and staff at NREL.
Associate Lab Director, Bioenergy Sciences and Technology
Adam Bratis manages NREL's research and development efforts in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's mission in the bioenergy space. This includes technical and managerial oversight in the areas of biosciences; conversion of biomass to fuels, chemicals, and materials; algal biofuels; techno-economic and life cycle analyses; and fuels testing. He also serves as a spokesperson for the bioenergy and bioeconomy research program at NREL.
Center Director I, Technical
As Biosciences Center director, Maureen McCann leads a team of creative researchers in the pursuit of understanding, predicting, and controlling biochemical, biophysical, and semi-synthetic pathways and processes in living organisms and biohybrid systems. The center's fundamental focus is to reengineer matter and energy flows, from molecular to cellular and system scales, for both technology innovation and disruption—enabling innovative, cost-effective, and performance-advantaged biotechnologies.
Acting Center Director, Technical
As the acting Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center director, Ed Wolfrum leads a talented team of scientists and technicians in biological, chemical, and catalytic research approaches for high-performance and affordable polymers, chemicals, and fuels. The center has strong thrusts in polymer design and upcycling, separations, synthetic biology and bioconversion, analytical sciences, computational modeling, and lignocellulosic chemistry and catalysis.
Center Director II, Technical
As Catalytic Carbon Transformation and Scale-Up National Bioenergy Center director, Thomas Foust guides and directs NREL's research efforts and those of collaborating national laboratories to develop biomass conversion technologies via biochemical and thermochemical routes as well as critical research areas addressing the affordability of biofuels, bioproducts, and bioenergy. His areas of expertise include feedstock production, biomass-to-fuels conversion technologies, and environmental and economic challenges associated with biofuels.
Laboratory Program Manager III, Biological Science
As the biomass laboratory program manager, Zia Abdullah fosters NREL’s relationship with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office. In addition, he works with senior lab management to set the strategic agenda for NREL's biomass portfolio and with research staff to execute the research strategy. He is a mechanical engineer with extensive experience and accomplishments in thermochemically and biochemically converting biomass to fuels and chemicals.
Laboratory Program Manager, Carbon Management
Josh Schaidle serves as NREL’s program manager for carbon management. Research within this program spans carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide conversion, and evaluation of technology trade-offs at the systems level through comprehensive modeling. Josh believes in "creating together," and he seeks to build and empower talented, multidisciplinary teams to accelerate technology development.
Bioenergy Research Staff
See a complete list of our researchers on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Research Hub.
Share
Last Updated June 9, 2025