The Beth Calabotta Sustainability Grant was established in 2018 to help deserving full-time students interested in science, research and biodiesel sustainability. This $2,000 grant provides financial aid to a student studying initiatives that promote or support the use of biodiesel or renewable diesel.  A portion of the financial award should be used to cover the recipient’s costs to attend and participate in the Sustainability Workshop and related pre-and post-activities. The two-day Biodiesel Sustainability Workshop is scheduled November 1 and 2, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. Any remaining funds should be applied toward academic expenses.

Applicant  Eligibility: Students must be a US citizen, full-time student and have a minimum GPA of 3.0. The grant is open to both undergraduate (seniors preferred) and graduate students. An eligible student must describe how his or her studies support the growth of biodiesel or renewable diesel(to be justified by the student). Recipients must attend the two-day Biodiesel Sustainability Workshop November 1 and 2, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri.  This opportunity is currently closed. The winner will be announced mid-August 2022.

Past Recipients: Kayla Kittrick was chosen to receive this award for 2020. In 2018, Mary Kate Mitchell was the recipient.

About Beth: The Beth Calabotta Sustainability Education Grant was established to help deserving full-time students interested in science, research and biodiesel sustainability.  Beth worked more than 25 years at Monsanto in St. Louis, MO as a Chemical Engineer, with increasing responsibilities focused on the development and commercialization of new technologies. Beth completed her tenure at Monsanto in October 2014 as Director & Fellow of Monsanto's Bioenergy Development Program.

The Indirect Land Use Change Theory stated that increasing commodity prices would result in more land put into agriculture production.  Beth rejected that theory and made the opposite claim which was “increasing commodity prices” are good for the environment because farmers will be able to optimize production, producing more food per acres which is better for the environment.  Based on Beth’s work, the Foundation and Clean Fuels Alliance America want to continue building on the idea that adopting innovative technologies and diversifying markets will produce environmental benefits that can be documented through research and data.  In addition, Beth’s impact while serving on the Foundation board led to soybean-based biodiesel qualifying as an Advance Biofuel in the RFS and reduced the carbon score for soy based biodiesel by 50% and corn ethanol by 30% in the California and Oregon low carbon fuel standards.

The work Beth started at Clean Fuels Foundation on ILUC has garnered international attention and support as well. The Foundation has received financial backing from the European Biodiesel Board and FEDIOL, the EU vegetable oil and protein meal industry association, to evaluate and compare GTAP-BIO and European GLOBIOM models.  The international collaboration will serve to spread what we have learned about ILUC modeling to the European continent and better inform policy decisions.  The European Commission is now reconsidering the data inputs GLOBIOM models used in Europe to predict ILUC impacts.

Beth was an advocate for student development and a supporter of biofuel sustainability. She had an unquenchable love for agriculture and life-sciences. Later in her career, Beth's efforts focused almost solely on the development of biofuels as viable energy alternatives to conventional fuels.