Biofuels and Bioenergy

Donald L Smith (James McGill Professor) has conducted research in the production and physiology of crop plants, with an emphasis on plant-microbe interactions, most recently, within the context of biofuel feedstock production. Specific areas of research have been: nitrogen metabolism, nitrogen fixation, low temperature stress and nodulation, methods for injection of metabolites into plants, cereal production, plant growth regulators, intercropping, inter-plant competition, plant-microbe signaling, plants and climate change, biofuel crops, crop stress responses and biochar as a soil amendment. He has trained 66 graduate students, 38 PhD and 28 MSc, published >310 papers, generated 11 patents, started a spin-off company (Bios Agriculture Inc.), and commercialized technologies that are now applied to >100 million ha of crop land per year. He has been principal investigator on research grants totaling >$55 million. He currently leads the BioFuelNet Canada.