Tom Foust

Dr. Thomas Foust is the Executive Director of the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC).  The NABC has a three-year mission to develop to a near pilot ready state advanced biofuels that are “drop-in” supplements to gasoline, diesel and jet fuels. A key component of the NABC towards accomplishing this aggressive goal is to leverage the existing fuels and vehicles infrastructure to the maximum extent possible.  The NABC is comprised of 17 organizations representing national laboratories, universities and industry that are leaders in the advanced biofuels field. Prior to recently taking on this role, he was the Biofuels Research Director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). In this role he guided and directed NREL’s research efforts to develop biomass conversion technology to fuels via biochemical and thermochemical conversion routes as well as critical research areas addressing the sustainability of biofuels.  This research focused on developing the necessary science and technology for converting biomass to biofuels in an economical and environmentally sustainable manner.

Dr. Foust is an internationally recognized expert in the biofuels field. His areas of expertise include feedstock production, biomass conversion technologies to fuels and environmental and societal sustainability issues associated with biofuels.  He has over 20 years of research and research management experience specializing in biomass feedstocks and conversion research. He has over 100 publications in the biomass field covering all aspects of biofuels technology.

Dr. Foust has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and a M.E.. in Mechanical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer.