Bronson Bullock has been teaching forest biometrics, forest mensuration, modeling, and sampling at the graduate and undergraduate level since 2002. He teaches the forest mensuration portion of the forestry field summer camp at the University of Georgia and works hard to ensure that the students not only learn the material, but also develop critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership skills. Dr. Bullock's undergraduate forestry degree is from Rutgers University in 1996 and graduate degrees from Virginia Tech – master's in Forest Biometrics (1998); master's in  Statistics (2000); and Ph.D. in Forest Biometrics (2002). 

There are two core areas that his research has focused on, 1) the effects of genetic background on growth characteristics and wood quality, and 2) spatial relationships between trees in forested stands. He is also working on numerous other projects to answer a wide range of forest biometrics research questions, e.g. taper, volume and green weight equations; growth and yield models; characterization of model error; mid-rotation treatment effects; and numerous research projects with the Plantation Management Research Cooperative (PMRC) at UGA. Dr. Bullock is an active research collaborator with both internal and external colleagues, as well as with forest industry partners. Additionally, he has international forest biometrics research ongoing in Sweden and Finland.

Mi Li is an Assistant Professor in Biorefinery and Biopolymer Chemistry at the Center of Renewable Carbon, School of Natural Resources, University of Tennessee Knoxville. Dr. Li earned his doctorate in Wood Science from Auburn University. He has contributed to more than 70 peer-reviewed journal publications and 3 book chapters. Dr. Li also serves as the Chair of the ES-220 Bio-based Energy, Fuels and Products Committee for the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. He is the recipient of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe 2021 Junior Faculty Award, and the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is currently interested in circular biorefinery by developing bio-derived functional materials and biodegradable and chemically recyclable polymers.

Kim Nelson is CTO at GranBio Technologies. She has more than 15 years comprehensive innovation scale-up and business development experience. Dr. Nelson holds 20+ patents and 50 patents-pending in the biorefinery and nanocellulose fields. She has extensive experience managing research and development projects, joint development projects with nanocellulose end-user companies, and government funded projects. Dr. Nelson has secured a large portfolio of government grants including, most recently, $80 million from the department of energy for scale-up of Sustainable Aviation Fuel and nanocellulose co-product production. 

Dr. Nelson obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Science from the Institute of Paper Science and Technology at Georgia Tech. She is on the Executive Board of Directors of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) and was recently named one of the outstanding leaders of the bioeconomy by the Biofuels Digest.

Carsten Sievers is a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and leads the "Maximizing the Value of Products from Plastics Upcycling" initiative at the Renewable Bioproducts Institute. Carsten Sievers obtained his Diploma and Dr. rer nat. degrees in Technical Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Under the guidance of Professor Johannes A. Lercher, he worked on heterogeneous catalysts for various petrochemical processes. In 2007, he moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology to work with Professor Christopher W. Jones and Professor Emeritus Pradeep K. Agrawal as a postdoctoral fellow. His primary focus was the development of catalytic processes for biomass depolymerization and synthesis of biofuels. He joined the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2009. 

Dr. Sievers' research group is developing catalytic processes for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. Specific interests are catalyst deactivation and regeneration, mechanocatalysis, plastics upcycling, catalytic processes in aqueous phase, surface chemistry of complex molecules, production of value-added chemicals from biomass, operando spectroscopy, and CO2 capture and conversion. He published over 100 peer-reviewed papers. He is one of the Chairs of the 29th North American Meeting of the North American Catalysis Society (NAM29) and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Applied Catalysis A: General.

Patricia Stathatou holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece (2017), and a B.S./M.S. in Civil Engineering (NTUA, 2011). She conducted her postdoctoral research at the MIT Center for Bits & Atoms after winning the Bodossaki Postdoctoral Scholarship, where she was leading sustainability related research and activities including environmental remediation, sustainable energy sources and biomaterials (2018-2022). Dr. Stathatou is a research scientist at the Renewable Bioproducts Institute and her current research focus areas are in biofuels, biomaterials, clean water, climate & environment.

Valerie Thomas is the Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems and Professor in the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy. 

Dr. Thomas's research interests are energy and materials efficiency, sustainability, industrial ecology, technology assessment, international security, and science and technology policy. Current research projects include low carbon transportation fuels, carbon capture, building construction, and electricity system development. 

Dr. Thomas is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the American Physical Society. She has been an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow, a Member of the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board, and a Member of the USDA/DOE Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. She has worked at Princeton University in the Princeton Environmental Institute and in the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, and at Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. 

Dr. Thomas received a B. A. in physics from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cornell University.

Andres Villegas is President and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association. In this capacity he is responsible for advocating for Georgia’s $41.3 billion forest products industry. Georgia is the #1 Forestry State in the Nation and Villegas is focused on ensuring that the states 22 million acres of working forests continue to deliver value to Georgia's 10+ million residents through the creation of jobs, clean air, drinking water, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation opportunities. Andres' role includes engagement with the leadership of the state and nation’s private forest sector and elected or appointed government officials. 

Andres has extensive private, public and NGO sector experience in forestry and natural resources having held domestic and international positions with Weyerhaeuser, Chevron, The Langdale Company, and the Georgia Department of Agriculture. His work has focused on implementing sustainable forestry and renewable energy programs in Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon and the country of Uruguay. 

Andres was born in Bogota, Colombia and has travelled extensively throughout the world promoting environmental sustainability, trade of food and forest products, and collaborative partnerships. He received a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and a Certificate in International Agriculture from The University of Georgia. He also earned an Executive Certificate of Management and Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management.