June 20, 2017

Sweetwater Energy Announces Dr. Markus Buehler of MIT as newest Board Member

Sweetwater Energy, Inc., a Rochester NY-based renewable bioproducts producer, announced today that Dr Markus Buehler, the McAfee Professor of Engineering and Head of Department, Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has become the newest member of Sweetwater’s board of directors. Dr. Buehler also directs MIT’s Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics (LAMM). Following undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart, and earning a Master’s Studies in Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Tech, he received a Ph.D. in Chemistry (Materials Science) from the University of Stuttgart.  After postdoctoral work at Caltech, he joined the faculty of MIT in 2006 and rose through the ranks of Assistant Professor and Associate Professor to full Professor. Dr. Buehler will be using his expertise in materials science to lead exploration in advanced technology, new markets and products for Sweetwater’s clean cellulosic sugars and Ultra-lignin™.

“Sweetwater Energy is delighted that Dr. Markus Buehler, one of the world’s pre-eminent researchers and thought leaders in lignin and materials science, has enthusistiacally agreed to join our Board of Directors and lead our efforts in the development of advanced technology and sustainable products”, says Arunas Chesonis, Chairman and CEO at Sweetwater.

In his research, Dr. Buehler pursues new modeling, design and manufacturing approaches for advanced sustainable materials that offer a wide range of controllable properties from the nanoscale to  macroscale. With his background in nanomaterials, Professor Buehler will be able to not only explore new products pathways, but also help Sweetwater’s engineers improve the quality of its lignin for many high value markets. Dr. Buehler has published more than 320 scholarly articles on multiscale materials and authored several monographs. His most recent book “Biomateriomics” presents a new paradigm for the analysis of materials and structures to devise sustainable technologies using a mathematical categorization approach that connects insights from disparate fields, such as biology and materials science, to music and language.

“I’m very excited to join the Board of Directors at Sweetwater Energy.  The work accomplished to date at Sweetwater, and that which we will accomplish together, has the potential to truly change our planet as we bring renewable and sustainable carbon technology products to market that successfully compete with products hitherto derived from petroleum,” says Dr. Markus Buehler of MIT.

Dr. Buehler has received a large number of awards and recognitions, including Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award for exceptional distinction in teaching, research or scholarship, the highest honor bestowed on young MIT faculty. Other major awards include the Alfred Noble Prize, the Leonardo da Vinci Award, the Thomas J. R. Hughes Young Investigator Award, and a number of other recognitions from professional societies. He is also a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the United States Air Force Young Investigator Award, the Navy Young Investigator Award, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award, as well as the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. He was an invitee to several National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposia and has delivered several plenary lectures at this forum. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and NANOSMAT Society. In 2016, he was awarded the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology.