Dr. Bertrand Hankoua holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Plant genetics, and Plant Biotechnology and an MBA in Finance and Financial Management and is the President and Chief Operating Officer of BEASI (Bioenergy Solutions, Inc) of Delaware, USA. Dr. Hankoua is a leading expert in cassava biotechnology and has strong experience in international agricultural development and the transfer of biotechnology methodologies from advanced laboratories to less developed countries.

Throughout his more than 20 years of working with crop biotechnology, he has made significant contributions to the research and development of disease-resistant cassava plants, biomass self-digestibility, and nutritional enhancement. Dr. Hankoua was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, in St-Louis, Missouri, where he was part of a multicultural and multidisciplinary team of scientists with the goal of using advances in genomic and molecular biology to address the growing problem of cassava and sweet potato viruses using transgenic approaches with a broader vision to deliver products to the field.

He also participated in the development of new project concepts in relation to Agricultural development in Africa. While at DuPont in 2008, he worked as an Assistant Plant Biologist (Molecular Biology) in the Department of Genomics & Trait Discovery of DuPont Agriculture and Nutrition in Wilmington, Delaware.

Currently, Dr. Hankoua is organizing a team of experts from academia and industry in USA, Africa, Asia and Europe to tap into the potential of transgenic technology, molecular biology, classical breeding, genomics and biochemistry to produce novel environmentally-safe enhanced starch and lignocellulosic-rich plants which will make the production of biofuels and bio-based chemicals from these plants much easier and cheaper. He has published results of works in high impact peer review journals such as Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Scientific-Reports-Nature. He is also a principal manuscript reviewer for top journals such as Nature Communications, Plant Physiology, and Scientific Reports-Nature. Dr. Hankoua is also an inventor and currently have a patent pending at the United State Patent Office (USPTO) for efficient mass propagation of Giant Miscanthus using biotechnological approaches. Dr. Hankoua is an active member in several scientific societies and was recently honored as a member of the Prestigious Partnership to Cut Hunger in Africa.

Dr. Hankoua also received numerous highly competitive international fellowships and awards from prestigious international bodies such as the Swiss Center for International Agriculture, the Organization of African Unity, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), and UNESCO, and recently was selected for a prestigious Visiting Faculty award by the US Department of Energy. He also served as a Principal Investigator and co-Principal Investigator for many federally funded energy-based researches grants worth millions of dollars from conception, development, funding and now execution. He has also trained various Postdoctoral scientists in biotechnological-related environmentally sustainable projects. One of his grant awards is now a “Model Grant” for the National Institute of Agriculture (NIFA). Dr. Hankoua was selected to participate on the review panel for three US Government Grant Programs that provide highly competitive grants to researchers from academia, industries, and non-for-profit organizations in agricultural development, bioenergy, and bio-based products, education, and agricultural extension.