A powerful and comprehensive partnership is taking root in Monroe County, Illinois. At a recent kickoff event, representatives from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the University of Illinois Extension, and Monroe County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) met to introduce a nearly $700,000 grant dedicated to serving Monroe, St. Clair, and Madison Counties.
The grant is nicknamed E3 and has three main parts, experiential learning, economic development, and extension of university expertise.
First, students and faculty from SIUE will collaborate with businesses in the region to apply science in ways that can help businesses grow. Second, the Monroe County EDC will help identify potential partnerships with rural businesses including agri-business partners, microbreweries, restaurants and other producers. Third, University of Illinois Extension will conduct outreach to bring experiential learning from the agribusiness field into K-12 schools in the area.
Bob Dixon of SIUE’s Department of Chemistry noted that the grant project was developed in tandem with Courtney Breckenridge of NCERC at SIUE.
Dixon said, “It was Courtney’s and my main objective in writing this grant to utilize the expertise of the three institutions that we brought together.”
NCERC is a research center that helps commercialize new technologies in biofuels and bioprocessing, which means in addition to working on fuel ethanol research the experts in NCERC’s labs can make bioplastics and other renewable materials that come from sustainable sources.
Dixon heads up the Biotechnology Lab Incubator (BLI) next door to NCERC at SIUE. The BLI can conduct fermentation studies, food science studies and other complex chemistry analysis.
An example of how chemistry might help a local business grow is the BLI partnership with Beastman Tea, which arose as the first major project under the grant partnership.
SIUE students conduct taste tests of Beastman Tea varieties at the Goshen Community Market’s Winter Market on January 26, 2019
A team of chemistry and communication students is working with Brad Eastman, founder of Beastman Tea, to use chemistry to test the antioxidant levels in his company’s teas. Nutrition students are also conducting taste tests, and communication students are helping develop a social media strategy for the brand.
The goal is to use science to support product claims that can help Eastman grow his business.
“We’re trying to capture that health aspect of Beastman Tea versus others. When people say they drink tea because it’s healthy, let’s look at some numbers and see how healthy that tea really is,” Eastman said, noting that he is participating with the expectation of continuing to grow his brand in Southern Illinois and beyond.
Dixon said, “A major goal of the grant is to bring this type of technology development to rural communities with the help of scientists and science majors at SIUE. In particular, it is my part to provide university resources at SIUE and with student-led teams to advance startups and other small businesses development in the region.”
Congressman Mike Bost supported the grant effort and said, “I applaud the partners on this grant – SIUE, U of I extension, and especially the Monroe County Economic Development Corporation for working together in new ways to help address the challenges and opportunities for our region. I am
confident our businesses, students, community, and economy will deeply benefit from your work.”
According to an SIUE news release, the project includes faculty and staff from six academic departments and five centers at SIUE, including chemistry, environmental sciences, sociology, geography, mass communications, nutrition, the NCERC, Office of Educational Outreach, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), and the Environmental Resources Training Center (ERTC).
BIOWIRE is a related project and will cover efforts related to the grant as well as a variety of other bioeconomy news in the region.