Kurt D. Thelen, Ph.D.

Kurt Thelen

Contact Me

Professor
Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center

Phone:
517-353-0232

Email:

Degrees:
Ph.D., Michigan State University, Crop & Soil Sciences

Courses taught: 

  • CSS/BSE/FOR 467:  BioEnergy Feedstock Production

Web Links:

Overview of current program: 

Dr. Thelen is a professor at Michigan State University, in the Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences Department and Director of the MSU Great Lakes BioEnergy Research Center.  His research program is focused on developing bioenergy crop systems that increase food, feed, and energy security while safeguarding soil, air, water, and biodiversity.

 

Recent Publications:

Kim, S., B.E. Dale, B. Basso, K.D. Thelen, and C. Maravelias.  2023.  Supply chain system based on switchgrass grown on marginal land in Michigan. 2023.  Biofuels bioproducts & biorefining. doi.org/10.1002/bbb.2526.

Jayawardena, D., G.P. Robertson, G. Sanford, and K.D. Thelen.  2023.  Comparative productivity of six bioenergy cropping systems on marginal lands in the upper US Midwest.  Agron J. 115:2451-2468.  DOI: 10.1002/agj2.21416.

 Kim, S., B.E. Dale, R. Martinez-Feia, B. Basso, K.D. Thelen, C. Maravelias, D. Landis, T.J. Lark, and G.P. Robertson. 2022. Global Warming Intensity of Biofuel Derived from Switchgrass Grown on Marginal Land in Michigan. Global Change Biology, Bioenergy.  2023;15:319-331.  DOI: 10.1111/gcbb.13024

Chandrasekar, M., L. Joshi, K. Krieg, S. Chipkar, E. Burke, D.J. Debrauske, K.D. Thelen, T.K. Sato, and R. Ong.  2021.  A high solids field to fuel research pipeline to identify interactions between feedstocks and biofuel production. Biotechnology for Biofuels. (2021) 14:179,  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-021-02033-6.

 Kusmec A.; C.Yeh; N. AlKhalifah; M. Bohn; E. Buckler; D.Campbell; I. Ciampitti; D. Ertl; S.Flint-Garcia; J. Gardiner; M. Gore; C.Hirsch; S. Kaeppler; J.Knoll; J.Kolkman; G. Kruger; N.Lauter; C. Lawrence-Dill; E. Lee; N. de Leon; S. Liu; A. Lorence; B.McFarland; C. Poudyal; M.Romay; J. Schnable; R. Sekhon; K.Silverstein; M. Smith; N. Springer; K. Thelen; J. Wallace; R. Walls; R.Walton; T. Weldekidan; D.Willis; R.Wisser; P.Schnable. 2021. Data-driven identification of environmental variables influencing phenotypic plasticity to facilitate breeding for future climates: a case study involving grain yield of hybrid maize.  One Earth.  SSRN, 3684755.

 Rogers, A. J. Dunne, M.C. Romay, M. Bohn, E. Buckler, I. Ciampitti, J. Edwards, D. Ertl, S. Flint-Garcia, M. Gore, C. Graham, C. Hirsch, E. Hood, D. Hooker, J. Knoll, E. Lee, A. Lorenz, J. Lynch, J. McKay, S. Moose, S. Murray, R. Nelson, T. Rocheford, J. Schnable, P. Schnable, R. Sekhon, M. Singh, M. Smith, N. Springer, K. Thelen, P. Thomison, A. Thompson, M. Tuinstra, J. Wallace, R. Wisser, W. Xu, A.Gilmour, S. Kaeppler, J. Holland, and N. de Leon. 2020. The importance of dominance and genotype-by-environment interactions on grain yield variation in a large-scale public cooperative maize experiment. Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 2021. jkaa050, https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkaa050

Gelfand, Ilya, Stephen K. Hamilton, Alexandra N. Kravchenko, Randall D. Jackson, Kurt D. Thelen, and G. Philip Robertson. 2021. Data from:  Empirical Evidence for the Potential Climate Benefits of Decarbonizing Light Vehicle Transport in the U.S. with Bioenergy from Purpose-Grown Biomass with and without BECCS.  Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.44j0zpc8r.

Dale, Bruce, Stefano Bozzetto, Christian Couturier, C  Fabbri, Jorge Hilbert, Rebecca Ong, Tom Richard, Laura Rossi, Kurt Thelen, and Jeremy Woods.  2020.  The Potential for Expanding Sustainable Biogas Production in Selected Countries and Some Possible Impacts in Specific Countries.  Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining. DOI: 10.1002/bbb.2134.

McFarland, B.A., N. Alkalifah, M. Bohn, J. Bubert, E.S. Buckler, I. Ciampitti, J. Edwards, D. Ertl, J. Gage, C. Falcon, S. Flint-Garcia, M. Gore, C. Graham, C. Hirsch, J. Holland, E. Hood, D. Hooker, D. Jarquin, S. Kaeppler, J. Knoll, G. Kruger, N. Lauteedr, E. Lee, D. Lima, A. Lorenz, J. Lynch, J. Mckay, N. Miller, . Moose, S. Murray, R. Nelson, C. Poudyal, T. Rocheford, O. Rodriguez, M. Romay, J. Schnable, P. Schnable, B. Scully, R. Sekhon, K. Silverstein, M. Singh,, M. Smith, E. Spalding,N. Springer, K. Thelen, P. Thomison, M.Tuinstra, J.Wallace, R. Walls, D. Wills, R. Wisser., W. Xu, C. Yeh, and N. de Leon.  2020. Maize genomes to fields (G2F): field seasons: genotype, phenotype, climatic,soil, and inbred ear image datasets.  BMC Res Notes. 13:71. doi.org/10.1186/s13104-020-4922-8.

Kim, Seungdo; Zhang, Xuesong; Reddy, Ashwan; Dale, Bruce; Thelen, Kurt; Jones, Curtis ; Izaurralde, Roberto; Runge, Troy; Maravelias, Christos.  2020.  Carbon-Negative Biofuel Production.  Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, 54, 17, 10797–1080.

Wang, Sichao, Gregg R. Sanford, G. Phillip Robertson, Randall D. Jackson, & Kurt D. Thelen. 2020. Perennial bioenergy crop yield and quality response to nitrogen fertilization.  Bioenergy Research. 13:157-166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-019-10072-z

Gelfand, Ilya, Stephen K. Hamilton, Alexandra N. Kravchenko, Randall D. Jackson, Kurt D. Thelen, and G. Philip Robertson. 2020. Empirical Evidence for the Potential Climate Benefits of Decarbonizing Light Vehicle Transport in the U.S. with Bioenergy from Purpose-Grown Biomass with and without BECCS. Environmental Science & Technology 54 (5): 2961–74.