Advisory Board
We are grateful to the following founding sponsors of SD-CAB for their support. If you are interested in becoming a founding sponsor, please email info@algae.ucsd.edu
Paul Engh
CEO, Carbon Capture Corporation (CCC)
As CEO of Carbon Capture Corporation (CCC), Paul Engh is a pioneer in the nascent algae fuel industry. Since 2006, CCC has operated the world's largest algae fuel research facility and pursued the dual goals of carbon dioxide abatement (BACT) for power plants and algae biomass production.
Mr. Engh is actively forming national policy for algae fuel research. Internationally, CCC recently participated in academic and industry meetings in Israel, Ireland, Germany, France, Canada, and Singapore.
Using his business background in farm management, construction, and energy development, Engh looks forward to helping the San Diego/Imperial Valley region become the "Green Houston" as envisioned by the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB).
Heidi L. Kuhn
President, KF Dairy/Kuhn Farms, Inc.
Partner, Imperial Valley Cheese
Heidi L. Kuhn is a businesswoman and community activist who has recently relocated to San Diego from Imperial County.
In California’s Imperial Valley she owns several businesses begun by her late husband, Jim Kuhn. She has a 6,000-cow dairy; is a partner in Imperial Valley Cheese, the only commercial producer of Swiss and Muenster cheese in the state; and has farm ground and a farming business which produce hay and feed grains for domestic and international dairies.
A graduate of Stanford University in Public Policy, Ms. Kuhn spent several years working in policy and politics in Washington, D.C. and San Diego. During her 12 years living in the Imperial Valley, she served on several boards to advocate for the Valley’s agricultural interests, and has taken pivotal roles in the contentious battles over Imperial Valley water rights and water transfers.
Ms. Kuhn is vitally interested in the economic development of the Imperial Valley, where renewable energy holds promise to diversify the region’s agriculture industry, expand the community’s economic base, increase its job opportunities, and improve its quality of life. Specifically, Ms. Kuhn is interested in the role of agricultural by-products in algae production for energy, feed products, and water reclamation.
Dr. Frits Dautzenberg
Founder and President, Serenix Corporation
Dr Frits Dautzenberg is an expert in applied catalysis and process development. Born and educated in the Netherlands, he received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Eindhoven (TUE).
Commencing his industrial career with Shell at their R&D labs in Amsterdam, Dr Dautzenberg subsequently worked at Shell's refinery operations in France and Shell's tar sand operations in Canada. Later, he became vice president of engineering at Catalytica Inc., a company involved in developing catalyst technologies for the production of clean chemical processes. Since then, he rose to the position of vice president of technology development with ABB Lummus Global.
In parallel, he went on to teach a range of industry-related courses on the subject of Conceptual Process Design back at the TUE as Adjunct Professor. He has also published a large number of scientific articles and is named as the inventor on approximately 20 patents.
Currently, Dr Dautzenberg is actively involved with various companies around the world as Founding Director of Serenix Corporation– a catalyst and process technology consulting company, based in San Diego, California.
Michael Melnick, Ph.D.
Principal, CMEA
Michael Melnick joined CMEA as Principal in 2008. He is currently acting CEO of Biolight Harvesting and Chairman of the Board of Inventure Chemical.
Prior to CMEA, Michael was Chief Commercial Officer and Executive VP of Operations at Assay Designs from 2006 to 2007; co-founder and Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Cell Signaling Technology from 1999 to 2006; and staff scientist at New England Biolabs from 1995 to 1999.
Michael has a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University, a BS degree with honors from Stanford University, and an MS degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. Dr. Melnick is also a Visiting Scholar at UC San Diego.
