Science & Technology

USU Biological Engineer Discusses Reusable Waste on Podcast, Upcoming Lecture

By Tabitha Smiel |

Ron Sims will discuss biological engineering and reclaiming waste in an episode of USU's Indeed podcast and an upcoming lecture. (Matt Jensen/USU)

On a recent episode of the Instead podcast, Professor Ronald Sims described biological engineering as the “unique opportunity to integrate with all the sciences.”

“In biological engineering, the idea is that you use biological principles to innovate into many other disciplines, which would be medical, pharmaceutical, environmental,” Sims said. "Even if you're building a rocket ship to go to Mars, there's biological engineering.”

Sims is a full professor in the Biological Engineering Department at Utah State University, and he was one of the original founders and head of the department for four years. Since its creation, it has become one of the top biological engineering departments in the country.

He was also the recipient of the 2021 D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award, the most prestigious faculty honor awarded by USU, and will be speaking at a Research Week lecture event on April 14.

Sims was recently welcomed onto the Instead podcast to talk about his research journey.

It took 18 years and four degrees for Sims to become a biological engineer himself and begin developing the biological engineering departments at Utah State.

Sims explained on the podcast that Utah State was an ideal place to create the department because USU embodies the necessary principles.

“If you have an idea, go for it and let's see if you can make it right," Sims said. "In other words, open-ended problem solving."

As of now, Sims’s current research in the department is focused on the process of recycling wastewater into reusable resources.

Sims works closely with the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility, the largest water facility in Utah, to find the best solution to grow algae in the 60 million gallons of wastewater that flow in every day. Algae can absorb nitrogen and phosphorous from contaminated water, and that algae water can then be turned into biomatter and useable biomatter products.

“Waste is a resource out of place," Sims said.

The goal for Sims and the water facility is to “make products that are not damaging to the environment but will actually grow the economy.” Sims also said it is important to create tools and methods to “research, recycle, reduce, reuse and grow industry, but at the same time take care of the environment and people's health to develop this technology.”

The main dilemma Sims is attempting to solve now is how to scale up his waste-removing project to manage the 60 million gallons of water that flow in every day. He is trying to figure out the best solution to produce large enough motors, reactors, quantities of algae, and a way to process all the resulting biomass.

Additionally, there is a delicate balance to ensure more pollution does not occur because of all the energy used in the scaled-up version of the project.

In addition to his role as a researcher, Sims is an instructor, and he says he is still enthusiastic about what his students come up with even after decades of teaching.

“Students are wonderful," Sims said. "If you give them responsibility, it's amazing, you'll see them perform. But if you try to dominate too much, you'll suppress initiative."

Sims will be speaking at the D. Wynne Thorne Award Lecture at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the New Books Lounge of the Merrill-Cazier Library. Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP.

The full podcast episode is available on the Instead website.

Instead is produced by the USU Office of Research and hosted by Wyatt Archer. Each episode features conversations with Utah State University researchers who are working to address Utah's — and the world's — challenges.

WRITER

Tabitha Smiel
Communications Assistant
Office of Research
Tabitha.smiel@usu.edu

CONTACT

Wyatt Archer
Outreach Content Creator
Office of Research
wyatt.archer@usu.edu



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