Emma Brace is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering at Boston College. Her research in biofuels and bioproducts aims to propel bioproducts to market by combining experimental development of novel process engineering strategies with simulation and modeling approaches. Her current work focuses on assessing the potential of new processes to make biofuels and bioproducts using techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment methodologies. She is also dedicated to innovation in engineering education and introducing students to best practices for harvesting and converting natural resources and agricultural products into biofuels and bioproducts in ethical and sustainable ways. 

Prior to joining Boston College, Emma was a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Energy Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her postdoctoral work focused on performing techno-economic analyses and life cycle assessments of new biorefinery designs. She earned her PhD at Purdue University in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, where her dissertation focused on gas-liquid separations designs for removing hydrogen sulfide from natural gas using soybean oil as a bio-solvent. Emma earned her MS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University and BS in Biological Systems Engineering with a minor in Chemistry at Kansas State University.