MAES retools, renames facility to fuel Michigan’s bioeconomy efforts

Michigan State University
Published: Feb. 08, 2010 E-mail Editor

EAST LANSING, Mich. — To better assist the state’s biomass producers and the emerging bioenergy industry, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station is retooling and renaming one of its Upper Peninsula facilities.

One of 15 MAES specialized research facilities around Michigan, the Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center, or UPTIC, near Escanaba has been renamed the Michigan State University Forest Biomass Innovation Center to emphasize the evolving focus of MAES research activities there.

“The old name speaks to a traditional scope of activities – fiber farming research, silviculture, forest genetics and forested wetland research – that were appropriate when UPTIC was established in 1986,” said MAES Director Steve Pueppke, who also is director of the MSU Office of Biobased Technologies. “These activities have not ceased, but with the advent of the bioeconomy and MSU’s strategic focus on it, refining our programs in Escanaba and renaming the facility make good sense, both geographically and economically.”

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