The first Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals was held in 1978 and hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN). It was the first technical meeting focusing exclusively on the biotechnologically-­‐mediated conversion of renewable feedstocks, especially lignocellulosic plant biomass, to fuels and chemicals. This annual meeting soon became large enough to be co-­‐hosted by the predecessor of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, CO) and the Symposium’s location alternated yearly between Tennessee and Colorado. In 2008, SIMB began handling the logistics of the meeting and locations were expanded to include other states, with the Symposium being held in alternate years in the eastern or western United States. While many aspects of this meeting have changed since its inception, several features remain the same.

　　The meeting remains focused on the latest technology in biotechnology for fuels and chemicals.

　　The feedstock coverage has expanded beyond dedicated energy crops and agricultural and

　　forestry residues to include non-­‐lignocellulosics, e.g., algae and carbon oxides.

　　The broad topic areas remain largely the same, i.e., feedstocks, pretreatment/fractionation, biological conversion, bioprocessing integration, process techno-­‐economics/commercialization/ sustainability, while varying special topics sessions cover new and cutting edge directions.

　　There is a healthy split between oral (~100/year) and poster presentations (~350/year)

　　The meeting is now Sunday through Wednesday, with daytime oral sessions and evening poster (Sunday and Monday) and special topics (Wednesday) sessions.

　　A banquet is held on Tuesday evening where awards are presented to the best student posters as well as leading individual and organizational contributors who have advanced the field.

　　The Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology is currently accepting abstracts for oral and poster presentations to be presented at the 40th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals (SBFC). Technical talks and posters make up the majority of presentations, however detailed and informative presentations regarding commercial- and demonstration-scale endeavors advancing and promoting the emerging bio-based economy are strongly encouraged. Presenters are asked to submit their abstracts to one of the seven general research tracks listed below. The anticipated number of sessions for each track is indicated parenthetically, but may vary based on the number and quality of abstracts received in each track. Similar to recent years, each session is expected to have 7 oral presentations. Those abstracts not selected for oral presentations will automatically transferred to a poster session. Poster presentations are not expected to be limited.