Robert Brown, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor and Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering, holds academic appointments in mechanical engineering, chemical & biological engineering, and agricultural & biosystems engineering at Iowa State University. He is the Director of the ISU Bioeconomy Institute, which coordinates the campus’ Bioeconomy Initiative, as holds the position of Iowa Farm Bureau Director. He also serves as Director of the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies, which conducts research on thermochemical conversion of biomass into fuels, chemicals, and energy.

Brown obtained his undergraduate training at the University of Missouri-Columbia where he received a BS degree in physics and a BA degree in mathematics in 1976. He studied mechanical engineering at Michigan State University where he obtained an MS degree in 1977 and a PhD in 1980. Brown worked at General Dynamics Corporation in Ft. Worth, Texas, for three years before joining ISU in 1983 as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He was promoted to associate professor in 1987 and to professor in 1993. He became a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2002. He held the position of Bergles Professor in Thermal Science from 2003-2009. He received the Distinguished Iowa Scientist Award from the Iowa Academy of Science in 2006.

Dr. Brown's research is directed toward thermochemical conversion of biomass into fuels, chemicals, and energy. He conducts research on fluidized bed hydrodynamics, mechanisms of pyrolysis, carbon conversion during gasification, transport phenomena in hot gas clean-up, production of hydrogen and hydrocarbons from biomass, upgrading of thermolytic substrates to fuels, biopower, and economics and policy of renewable energy. He teaches courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, combustion, fluidized beds, biorenewable resources, and thermochemical biofuels. He is the author of Biorenewable Resources: Engineering New Products from Agriculture, a textbook on bioenergy, biofuels,and biobased products and is writing a new book, Why are We Producing Biofuels?

Dr. Amonette specializes in the areas of environmental geochemistry and soil mineralogy.  He currently has projects involving 1) aspects of terrestrial soil carbon sequestration with a focus on amendments (such as fly ash and charcoal) and management regimes (moisture), 2) monitoring, measurement, and verification approaches for geological carbon sequestration, and 3) the hydrolytic and reductive degradation pathways of chlorinated hydrocarbons including the redox chemistry associated with iron-bearing clays and nanoparticles.

The geochemical mechanisms by which C can be retained in soils and sediments are acquiring great importance due to climate-change concerns. For nearly a decade, Dr. Amonette co-led a team working on the fundamental molecular-scale aspects of carbonate mineral dissolution and growth processes using a combination of atomic-force microscopy and theoretical calculations. More recently he has focused on the catalytic mechanisms that promote the formation of humic materials. The chemistry of charcoal and fly ash are of particular interest as these common materials could be applied as soil amendments to promote carbon sequestration.

Dr. Amonette has more than 26 years of research experience. He has authored or coauthored over 50 peer reviewed scientific journal publications, ten book chapters, 40 technical reports, four patents in the area of photoacoustic spectroscopy, and a book on quantitative methods in soil mineralogy. He joined PNNL in 1986 and has been associated with the Environmental Dynamics and Simulation group in the EMSL since 1990.

Dr. Amonette received his BS degree in Soil Science, New Mexico State University; and his MS and PhD degress in Soil Chemistry from Iowa State University.

Education: Ph.D. (Agronomy) Iowa State University, 1987; M.S. (Soil Science) Oregon State University, 1982; B.S. (Geology) University of Kansas, 1976.

Experience: Lead Scientist, USDA-ARS-National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames IA (Soil Scientist 1991-1998 and Lead Scientist 1998-present); Soil Scientist, USDA-ARS-Soil and Water Management Research Unit, St. Paul MN (1988 1991); Professor USDA-Collaborator, Department of Agronomy and Environmental Science Program, Iowa State University, Ames Iowa (Assistant Professor 1992-1997, Associate Professor 1997-2003, and Full Professor 2003-present); Associate Editor, The Clay Mineral Society (1996-2007); Council member, The Clay Mineral Society (2002-2006); Associate Editor, Soil Science Society America (1997-2002); Special Publications Editor for the Clay Minerals Society (2007); Chair Soil Chemistry Division, Soil Science Society of America (2008); Member Board of Directors, Nevada Community School System (2006-2009); Member of the Clay Minerals Society Executive Council and CMS Vice-president-elect (2009).

Research and Publications: Author and co-author of 72 refereed journal articles and 8 book chapters. Research interests include the use of pyrolysis to process biomass into bioenergy and biochar co-products, and the impact of biochar amendments on soil quality, the stability of biochar in soils, and the net impact of biochar on greenhouse gas emissions from soils. Other research interests include the chemical, mineralogical, and surface properties of soil clays, interactions of pesticides and other organic compounds with clays, the nature of soil humic substances, clay-humic interactions, and the development of field-mobile near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for mapping soil organic carbon and other properties.

Professional Memberships: American Society of Agronomy; Soil Science Society of America; Clay Minerals Society; American Chemical Society; American Association for the Advancement of Science.