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Maureen McCann

Director of the Energy Center, Discovery Park, Professor

Professional Bio:

McCann, who joined the Purdue faculty in January 2003, is researching the molecular architecture of plant cell walls and synthetic biology approaches to incorporating catalysts in them for optimized conversion to liquid fuels. She also serves as director of Purdue’s Center for the Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels, known as C3Bio.

McCann, who also is the assistant head of Purdue’s Department of Biological Sciences, received her bachelor’s degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge before pursuing her doctorate in botany at the John Innes Centre, a government-funded research institute for plant and microbial sciences in Norwich, England. She has published nearly 100 research papers.