It’s never too late to go back to school. The Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER) in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois is now offering an online class in bioenergy systems (ACES 409) for the Spring 2011 semester. The class meets on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. CST beginning on January 18 and ending on May 10, 2011.

The class is designed as in introductory survey course covering a wide range of bioenergy issues including agronomy of bioenergy crops; harvest, storage and transportation issues; biobutanol and biodiesel production, lifecycle analysis and environmental implications, and more. Lectures will be presented by the course instructors as well as by selected experts from industry and academic research.

The classes will be delivered online at Elluminate.com, a site optimized for online learning that allows students to interact, real-time, with presenters and other participants.

“We’re excited to offer this class in bioenergy online. We’ve been teaching it on campus for three years and have had several requests to offer the information in an online format,” said Hans Blaschek, Director of CABER. “Technology is changing so quickly in the bioenergy arena. This class should be beneficial to people throughout the world who are interested in learning more about bioenergy technology and research initiatives at the U of I.”

In addition to gaining an understanding of each topic presented and progress made in that area, students will learn how each issue fits into the broader bioenergy context and the challenges that remain.

Course tuition and fees are $1,167 for 3 credit hours. Registration is currently open and available until January 18 or until the class is full. You are not required to be a current student of U of I to enroll in the class. To register, go to www.outreach.uiuc.edu, select “NON-DEGREE Registration.”