AMES, Iowa — The Distillers Grains Technology Council has named Kurt Rosentrater, an assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University, to be its executive director and chief executive officer.
Rosentrater joined Iowa State in 2011 after eight years at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he led the agency’s only research program devoted to value-added uses for distillers grains, the primary coproduct from corn-based ethanol production. He will continue to teach and conduct research at Iowa State after he assumes his new duties.
Founded in the 1940s as the Distillers Feed Research Council, the Distillers Grains Technology Council (DGTC) is a non-profit organization that serves the fuel ethanol industry, the beverage alcohol industry and the livestock industry. The council works to educate livestock feeders and distillers grains producers, to improve the value and utilization of distillers grains in animal feeds.
“The council serves as the principle voice on nutrition, safety and regulatory issues affecting the use of distillers grains, and provides educational and technical services regarding the production and use of distillers grains,” Rosentrater said. “ISU is at the center of corn production, ethanol production and livestock production in the U.S. Having the DGTC at ISU will benefit all parties, because educational and outreach efforts will be strengthened, and improvements in these industries can be magnified.
The council’s office has moved to Iowa State from its previous location at the University of Louisville.
The council hosts an annual scientific meeting. The 18th Annual Distillers Grains Symposium will be held May 14 and 15, 2014, at the Omni Mandalay Las Colinas in Dallas.
More information about the council can be found at www.distillersgrains.org.