University of Michigan gets $2 million NSF grant for algae research

In Michigan, a team of University of Michigan researchers has been awarded a $2 million federal grant to identify and test naturally diverse groups of green algae that can be grown together to create a high-yield, environmentally sustainable and cost-effective system to produce next-generation biofuels.

National Science Foundation funding for the project begins Sept. 1 and will continue for four years. The effort will involve growing various combinations of lake algae in 180 aquariums at a new one-of-a-kind U-M laboratory, then field-testing the most promising candidates inside 80 fiberglass cattle tanks at the university’s E.S. George Reserve, a 1,300-acre biological research station near Pinckney, Mich.