Dr. Valerie Garcia-Negron

Valerie García-Negrón received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico in 2012, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in materials science and engineering from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2017 and 2020. In March 2021, she joined the Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research Unit at the Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, as a research chemical engineer. Dr. García-Negrón evaluates the effects of biomass feedstocks, pretreatments, and fermentation processes for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol. In addition, she works on CO2 absorption for developing a self-sustained biomass pretreatment and conversion process of fermentable sugars and lignin-derived products. Her current research interests focus on integrating biological and chemical biorefining for production of chemicals and fuels.