The NCERC at SIUE has added another researcher to its roster with the addition of Dr. Parisa Fallahi, a postdoctoral fellow who specializes in ethanol co-products research.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Fallahi to the NCERC’s research team,” NCERC Director John Caupert said. “Parisa’s wealth of expertise in the food and feed industries, both as a student and during her 10 years of industrial experience, enables her to immediately contribute to ongoing research and to open the door to new research opportunities at the Center.”
Fallahi earned a master’s in chemical engineering from Azad University in Tehran. She also earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences, and agricultural and biosystems engineering from South Dakota State University. She has authored five publications and a book chapter from her doctoral research. Drs. Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan and Kurt Rosentrater, luminaries in the field of co-products research as well as collaborators in previous NCERC projects, have served as Fallahi’s mentors.
The Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) and SIUE partnered to provide seed funding for NCERC’s postdoctoral fellowship program following the Center’s recent breakthroughs in corn kernel fiber conversion and feedstock characterization.
“The NCERC continues to be an incredible asset to public and private researchers and the biofuels industry as a whole,” ICMB Chairman Larry Hasheider said. “From accelerating the commercialization of new technologies to increasing production efficiency and developing value-added co-products, the NCERC has defined the cutting edge of the biofuels research for more than a decade.
“We believe this investment will yield tremendous dividends for the biofuels and agriculture industries through continued research breakthroughs.”
Fallahi and Dr. Arun Athmanathan, the Center’s postdoctoral fellow specializing in biomass research, will work under Research Director Dr. Sabrina Trupia to extend the Center’s existing research and identify new areas of study.
In addition to immediately submitting multiple grant proposals with Trupia, Fallahi and Athmanathan have been invited to present posters at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC) June 2-4 in Louisville, Ky. Fallahi’s research will also be on display at the Distillers Grains Symposium May 14-15 in Dallas.