Jonathan Schilling's lab

Hello. I'm Jonathan Schilling, PI in the Biodeterioration/Biodegradation Lab at Univ. Minnesota. I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering, and I am adjunct faculty in the Dept. of Plant Pathology. My appointment is 50/50 research/teaching.

My research is focused on biodegradation of lignocellulosic tissues, primarly wood. My emphasis is on the fungi, the primary agents of wood decay. I am dedicated to advancing wood protection and durability from forest trees to in-service products. I am also utilizing the large body of information generated from over a century of wood biodegradation research to apply to other lignocellulosics (corn stover, prairie grasses, etc.) in order to realize novel products from renewable bioresources. Biodegradation is a process not a product. As I say in my classes, if we want to deconstruct a plant tissue to make a product like ethanol, let's first take a look at how the 'pros' do it.

I received my PhD from the University of Maine where my thesis centered on mechanisms of wood-degrading brown rot fungi. I was trained primarily in wood science, plant pathology, and mycology. I also have an Environmental Studies Masters from Longwood College, and I received my Bachelors in Biology from Rhodes College in Memphis. You can find more info in my CV.

I was born in Charlotte, NC and grew up in the southern Appalachian mountains (WV, TN, and VA). I through-hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine over six months in 1996. I paddle, I fish, and more recently I xc ski. I brew beer, taste wine, listen to bluegrass, and of course build wooden things. My wife Emily is a true 'foodie', and an expert sailor of J/boats. She is an NSF GRF-funded PhD candidate studying ecological effects of stocking historically-fishless lakes. Her field research occurs in high, remote alpine lakes over many weeks each summer while my fieldwork involves chainsawing wood cookies over two days and then working up the material in a stuffy lab over many months. This is one of several indicators that she is the smarter one. We are at our best when traveling or bargain hunting. We were married by my dad Fritz on 10-6-01 in Brooklyn, ME. We have a daughter, Madeleine 'Maddy' (3-4-06), and mut, Ziggy (11-10-01). Here we are...

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