Biopolymers, Bioproducts, Biomass Utilization, Plant Biotechnology, Emerging Technologies, Latex, Rubber

Katrina has a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of Birmingham, England.  She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Association for the Advancement of Science, and has 40 years of experience in government, academia, and the private sector, including development and industrial standards.  She is currently the Ohio Research Scholar and Endowed Chair in Bioemergent Materials at The Ohio State University, Research Director of the PENRA industrial-academic consortium (Program of Excellence in Natural Rubber Alternatives), CEO of EnergyEne, Inc., and Scientific Advisor to American Sustainable Rubber Co LLC.  She is OSU’s 2019 Innovator of the Year and won the 2019 Ohio Faculty Council’s Commercialization Award, the Bioenvironmental Polymer Society 2019 lifetime achievement award, and the 2017 A.E. Thompson Career Achievement award from the Association for the Advancement of Industrial Crops.  She has over 300 papers in biochemistry, biotechnology, engineering, crop development, biopolymers, processing engineering, and product development, as well as 9 issued US patents and 16 pending. Previously, Dr. Cornish led the USDA’s development of domestic natural rubber and allergy-safe rubber latex sources from 1989-2004 and led the R&D efforts of Yulex Corp. from 2004-2010. Contact Katrina.