July 31, 2025
SIU team finalist and wins top prize for social media in national algae competition
A student team led by Scott D. Hamilton-Brehm, associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, recently took the top prize for social media coverage of its efforts at the 2023-25 U.S. Department of Energy’s AlgaePrize competition.
The AlgaeUnlocked team also was one of the finalists for grand champion at the competition, which highlights advances in cultivation, harvesting and downstream processing of algae to benefit industrial applications.
The team shared its results using processed microalgae to enhance field corn production, grow soybeans in nonarable soil such as simulated lunar and Martian regolith and produced biodiesel. Students processed algae using a patented technology created by a SIU spinoff company. The SIU team’s project was evaluated by five judges over three days through poster/oral presentation, a 25-page report and a video.
The competing student team ‘AlgaeUnlocked’ members:
- Alex Bechtel, team leader, graduate student in micro and biochemical molecular biology and field researcher.
- Mercedez Hanlon, graduate student in micro and biochemical molecular biology and biofuel researcher.
- Chetan Singh, graduate student in micro and biochemical molecular biology and agriculture and microalgae specialist.
- Danielle Snyder, first-year undergraduate majoring in microbiology and soil microbiome researcher.
The team’s research poster also won the Young Innovators award for its research at the 2024 Algae Biomass Summit in Houston, Texas prior to the contest.