Dr. Vicki Thompson is a Distinguished Staff Engineer in the Idaho National Laboratory’s Biological and Chemical Processing department. She has been with the INL since 1996. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa and her doctorate from Michigan State University. Her research interests include environmental bioremediation, development of novel forensic tests, use of extremophilic micro-organisms and proteins derived from those organisms for industrial applications such as waste water treatment, biocatalysis, production of fuels and chemicals from biomass and enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose. Her most recent research has focused on characterization of waste feedstocks such as municipal solid waste, agricultural wastes, food processing wastes and industrial wastes. These feedstocks cost less than traditional biomass feedstock and offer a way to reduce feedstock costs and enable the development of biorefineries