Jon Van Gerpen, Ph.D., P.E.
Jon Van Gerpen is professor and head of department of biological & agricultural engineering at University of Idaho and has been working doing biodiesel-related research for 10 years. His research includes investigations of biodiesel-fueled engine emissions, fuel composition effects, thermal and oxidative stability, and contaminant effects. Currently, he oversees the operation of a biodiesel pilot plant located at the Iowa Energy Center's Biomass Energy Conversion Center. He also directs the research activities in the Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Rudy Pruszko
Rudy Pruszko is a chemical engineer for the Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), which is part of Iowa State University Extension. He has over 25 years of manufacturing and management experience in a broad range of industries. His experience includes design, construction, start-up, and operations of five chemical plants including business planning, cost analysis, marketing, research, and project development from concept to commercialization.

L.Davis Clements, Ph.D.
L. Davis Clements is the founder and president of Renewable Products Development Laboratories, Inc. (RPDL), of Lincoln, Nebraska, a process development and licensing company founded in 1999.He has been involved in chemical process design and process development activities in industry, academia, and as a consultant since 1966. The current focus of RPDL is processes and products based on the utilization of animal fats, vegetable oils, and waste cooking grease as a source of energy and industrial chemicals.

Gerhard Knothe, Ph.D.
Gerhard Knothe has a Ph.D. in organic polymer chemistry and has worked at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Peoria, Illinois, since 1989. In his position as research chemist, he has been involved with developing industrial uses of vegetable oils. His contributions include research on pre-combustion reactions of fatty compounds as they occur in vegetable oils and biodiesel, combustion-improving additives, additives for improving cold-flow properties, and analytical methods for biodiesel production and fuel quality assessment.

Brent Shanks, Ph.D.
Brent Shanks is an associate professor in chemical engineering at Iowa State University, where he joined the faculty in 1999. Dr. Shanks worked for Shell Chemical Company in Houston, Texas, for 11 years as a research engineer in the area of heterogeneous catalysis and as department manager of the chemical catalyst department. Several of his assignments included leading training courses for process engineers and operators in manufacturing facilities. A current project involves the synthesis of novel highly basic heterogeneous catalysts for the transesterification of triglycerides to biodiesel.