Dr. Helena Chum is a Research Fellow in the Renewable Fuels and Vehicle Systems Directorate at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a member of the NREL Research Fellows Council that reports to the Science and Technology Deputy Director. Her expertise is in renewable fuels, transportation systems, and international renewable energy activities including biomass, biofuels, and biorefineries.
Dr. Chum conducts research on the sustainability of biomass and biofuels in the global context. She has developed technologies for the conversion of biomass and a variety of organic wastes into fuels, including hydrogen, chemicals, electricity, and high value materials. She directed analytical chemical research and the development of standards and reference materials for biomass. To these and other fields she has contributed more than 110 papers and 20 patents, has lectured and participated in seminars and conferences worldwide, and is a co–inventor on 20 patents. She participated in the development of the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s National Environmental Technology Strategy, released in 1995.
Dr. Chum is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the International Academy of Wood Science, of the Cellulose and Renewable Materials Division of the American Chemical Society, and of the American Chemical Society. She served as a member of the Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel from 1998 to 2003. She received the Individual Trail Blazer Award in Green Engineering, presented by HENAAC Inc. and Green Technology Magazine, in 2006. She has served on several Advisory Boards of universities and organizations and represented NREL in the Council for Chemical Research. She served in the Office of Industrial Technologies’ Industry of the Future Program, representing NREL on the Laboratory Coordinating Council and chairing this Council in 1997. She was an Associate Editor of the Clean Processes and Products journal (Springer) and Editor of CHEMTECH (ACS).