 The EPSCOR Bioregual Energy Component benefits students and faculty at multiple institutions. EPSCOR has broadened my horizons on the scientific research that New Mexico is doing for renewable resources. What has EPSCOR done for you in particular? They funded a lot of Dr. Yann's looking into the research, and since I've been working here for about the past year, they've really enabled the whole thing. This is our Aldo-Pallard unit called Algoturf squabber. We use it to cultivate algae in dairy manure affluence. Paddle-mixed raceways are a common way for growing algae at large scales in our research and industrially. Open-bubbled ponds are also used, but they lose large amounts of water. Novel-covered raceways at NMSU and outdoor tube systems at SFCC greatly reduce water loss. Mid-sized indoor bioreactors are used to seed large reactors and also to help connect large-scale research to benchtop experiments. Large arrays of flasks on shaker tables maintain cultures for small-scale experiments, which we also conduct in more advanced environmentally controlled benchtop bioreactors. Research in the biology department at UNM and at the New Mexico Consortium has been using novel encapsulation methods for growing algae, including encapsulation and alginate beads, and using 3D printing of silico-soul gels that can be seen to generate oxygen bubbles from photosynthesis in the following image. Of course, growth of algae is the first step, and EPSCORS-supported mass-patrometry instrumentation at NMSU is being used for detailed metabolomic assays and training of students statewide. In the north, the lab of enchantment at Santa Fe Community College is amassing a full suite of state-of-the-art facilities for energy research and training. Through a stealth STEM approach, they get diverse students interested with hands-on training, which inspires students to seek additional education at institutions around the state. It also inspires fun innovation, such as the conversion of old candy containers into useful bioreactors. Here at the UNM Center for Water in the Environment, we're discovering how mixed-culture algal reactors can be designed and operated to more efficiently produce biodiesel. One goal of the project is to improve settling characteristics by operating several reactors with different configurations to aid in algal harvesting. Here we see that including a settling phase to an operation cycle produced much better settling than did a control system. Microscopic examination shows that including the settling phase produced large, dense algal flocks, while standard operation produced dispersed growth in small flocks, which likely explains the differences in settleability. Future work will determine how different reactor designs affect the genetic makeup, harvesting, and biodiesel production. Together, we are growing better algae, conducting better analyses statewide, getting better across-training students, and developing better innovative systems to solve today's problems using energized New Mexico funds. And we give a hearty thank you to NSF EBSCORE for helping us to create a better statewide community.