The Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein has launched at North Carolina State University. The Bezos Earth Fund awarded NC State $30 million over five years to lead a center of excellence to create a biomanufacturing hub for dietary proteins that are environmentally friendly, healthy, tasty, and affordable. The Earth Fund has committed $100 million to establish a network of open-access research and development centers focused on sustainable protein alternatives, expanding consumer choices.
The center will engage partners from academia and industry to research, create, and commercialize new technologies, provide training for the emerging industry workforce, and gauge consumers’ protein preferences.
Khara Grieger, assistant professor in Applied Ecology, has been named co-Director of Outreach and Advocacy for the center. As an interdisciplinary researcher, she is an expert in risk governance and science-and-society intersections involving emerging technologies, including those in food and agriculture sectors. For example, Grieger engages with stakeholders and academic researchers to better understand the role of emerging technologies in securing more sustainable futures, such as through her role as Co-Director of Knowledge Transfer for the Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center. She also serves as Project Director for USDA/NIFA grants focused on the role of genetic engineering and nanotechnology in developing sustainable food systems, in addition to serving on the leadership team of the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at NC State. In her role with the Bezos Center for Sustainable Proteins, Grieger will be working to better understand stakeholder and consumer perceptions and needs as they relate to alternative proteins and bringing this information back to the research teams.
“In order to feed a growing global population and meet our environmental goals for more sustainable futures, we will need to develop innovative, disruptive technologies and solutions,” explains Grieger. “At the same time, we need to develop these solutions in responsible, sustainable ways, and one key way to do this is to understand and align research and innovation with societal needs and wants.”
Learn more about the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein in the center’s official press release.