As we close out another successful year at the Algae Foundation, we want to take a moment to thank all our program participants, contributors, and supporters for a wonderful 2025. This year marked the completion of our second AlgaePrize competition, record participation in our Algae Academy program, the growth of our Algae Technology Educational Consortium membership to 48 partners, the launch of our Phycoverse algae-based board game and Table Top Microalgae Raceways, and so much more.
In this issue, we are excited to share detailed updates on the Algae Academy Fall 2025 semester, an inspiring interview with a former Mary Rosenthal Student Travel Grant winner who went on to become the Algae Biomass Organization Chairman of the Board, and a feature on the largest Algae Club in the nation at Solano Community College.
Continue reading to explore the impactful stories from our programs.
Algae Academy Fall 2025 Update
Fall 2025 was our largest Algae Academy semester to date. More teachers, more students, more impact! Applications for the 2025–2026 school year are now closed, but if you’re interested in learning more, visit here or sign up for the 2026–2027 waitlist.
Algae Foundation Program Participant Spotlight: Dylan Franks
We are excited to spotlight our two-time Mary Rosenthal Student Travel Grant recipient, Dr. Dylan Franks! Dylan received grants from the Algae Foundation in 2016 and 2019 to attend the Algae Biomass Organization (ABO) Summit, which provides students the opportunity to present a poster or oral presentation, network, and showcase their research to leading professionals in the algal industry.
In a full-circle moment, Dylan now serves as the ABO Chairman of the Board. We took some time to catch up on what he has been doing since receiving the grant and rising to this leadership role. Read on to learn more about the impressive work he’s been doing in an interview!
Headshot from Dylan’s wedding — algae may be his first love, but his wife comes first.
What sparked your interest in the algae industry?
Dylan: Walking into the Posewitz Lab in 2010 and seeing flasks of swirling green liquid was the moment everything clicked; I knew I’d wandered into a world I wanted to spend my life understanding. It was an entire universe I hadn’t known existed: new forms of life, photosynthetic metabolism, and so many new questions. As I grew, I saw the industry’s highs and lows, the bold visions and the hard-won lessons. And instead of pushing me away, that complexity made me more determined to contribute to its future.
Touring NREL in 2012 with the Posewitz Lab and his graduate mentor, Dr. Robert Jinkerson. This visit deepened his early interest in algal bioenergy and the broader climate-tech ecosystem.
Dylan sampling from an early version of his turbidostats in Dr. Bill Henley’s lab at Oklahoma State, where Henley served as his PhD advisor.
Q: Tell us more about what the algae community means to you.
Algae has been my North Star since the first moment I encountered it. It gave me an outlet to channel my curiosity for biology, climate tech, and the messy, exciting intersection between science and real-world impact. The algae community has been my professional home for more than a decade - full of people who build, explore, and uplift the next generation coming behind them. I’m committed to helping the algae industry reach its full potential and to playing a meaningful role in that journey.
Q: How did you first learn about the Algae Foundation’s Mary Rosenthal Student Scholarship Grant?
I was lucky to have mentors and colleagues pointing me toward opportunities like the Travel Grant right when I needed them. Once I realized algae wasn’t just an interest but a calling, I wanted deeper involvement with the community. The grant was one of the first moments I felt truly connected to the broader algae world. Jake Nalley (Board Member), Ike Levine (CEO), and the entire Algae Foundation team have always been a warm, supportive force in so many students' careers - including mine.
Racks of student algae cultures at Oklahoma State University. He designed and implemented this teaching lab for over 1,000 students, where teams grew Chlorella,Picochlorum, and diatoms under different environmental conditions. This work was later published through the Association of Biology Laboratory Educators.
Q: What were the highlights of your first ABO Summit experience?
I vaguely remember popping into the Denver meeting around 2012, but my real introduction came at the Phoenix Summit in 2016 when I received the Mary Rosenthal Travel Grant. That experience completely reframed my sense of belonging in the field. Meeting researchers, startups, national labs, and students all in one place showed me the scale and diversity of the algae industry - and that I had a place in it.
Q: How did you come to serve as the ABO Summit Chair and eventually the Chairman of the Board?
Back in 2018, ABO put out a call for volunteers to join the newly formed Communications Committee, which was led by then-Executive Director Rebecca White. Through that role, I met more algae researchers and became more deeply connected to the broader algae community. That initial volunteer position led to serving as a poster session co-chair, then Deputy Summit Chair, and ultimately Summit Chair as the board and executive team worked to bring new energy and continuity into the organization’s leadership. Over time, that service expanded beyond the Summit and into governance, culminating in my current role as Chairman of the Board. It’s been a reminder that consistent engagement and saying “yes” to small opportunities can grow into meaningful leadership.
Dylan with former ABO Executive Director Jon Kallen and former ABO Board Chair Mike Lamont at the 2024 Summit in Houston, after receiving the Unsung Hero Award for his work as Summit Chair.
Q: What is your favorite thing about algae?
Growing up in Oklahoma, I didn’t have much exposure to aquatic biology, so algae wasn’t even on my radar until college. Now, my favorite thing about algae is its sheer diversity - species, metabolisms, pigments, biomolecules, ecological strategies, cultural connections. It’s one of Earth’s earliest innovators, and it’s still full of secrets. And the best part? Once you’re tuned in, you start seeing algae everywhere you travel. Maybe the world needs an algae-themed travel agency!
Thank you, Dylan, for sharing your story. The Foundation looks forward to following your continued success! Be sure to check out the Algae Biomass Organization for more information on how you can get involved.
Featuring the Nation’s Largest Algae Club: Solano Community College’s Cyanobears!
We had the special opportunity to connect with the nation’s largest algae club at Solano Community College! Now comprising of 20 members, the club was originally founded in 2023 under the name “Blue Genes” to participate in AlgaePrize 2023–2025 as part of a class project. Today, the club is divided into lower- and upper-division students. All four-year students are part of the Biomanufacturing program, and some are COMPASS Scholars through the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. The two-year members are enrolled in the Industrial Biomanufacturing A.S. program.
The team bonded over a shared passion for algae, research, and developing greener solutions to modern challenges, with their primary focus being the search for a natural blue food dye. The Algae Club became a space for friendship, collaboration, and countless opportunities to learn from one another.
After graduating, the Blue Genes Algae Club proudly passed the torch to a new cohort of algae enthusiasts (now renamed the Cyanobears) hoping they too would build lasting memories together. Read on to learn more about what the club has been up to in an interview!
Club members in the Stem Cell course took a quick photo with the algae growing in the window.
Q: What is the club’s mission, and how has it evolved over time?
Our end goal is to direct the evolution of cyanobacteria that have been transduced with desiccation and dry-resistance genes. This population will live by photosynthesis, growing on simulated Martian regolith, under UV light and requiring minimal water. However, as a proof of concept, our current task is to transform algae with a derivative of the pGLO plasmid. We consider our plan an ‘ecological service’ that can extend its impact beyond Earth. Though, we feel we can produce algae that are at least more capable of inhabiting desert conditions than their pre-engineered population. We’ve made group decisions regarding ideal strains, potential heterologous genes, and vector designs, all for the purpose of engineering photosynthetic extremophiles. When humans one day colonize Mars, they can utilize the biomass of our algae to aid them in their endeavors.
Donovan Chapman, Algae Club President, presenting flasks of algae.
Q: Why algae? What excites your members about working with it?
The fact that we are doing something new and possibly put our names out there with a scientific paper is exciting! We acknowledge both the potential and challenge regarding algae as a platform for synthetic biology and want to use our unique position as students at Solano College to build a team around this goal.
Q: What current projects or experiments are you working on?
We are currently working on several projects for our Algae Club, including two transformation strategies for our algae of interest: conjugation and electroporation. Another side project we have been crafting with one of our engineering students, Vincent, is creating a photobioreactor. We have made some blueprints of some designs and put together some ideas. Next semester we are hoping to start purchasing the materials and begin assembling our photobioreactor! Lastly, we are touching up our molecular biology to create SOPs for our biological assays for our downstream process of our algae of interest.
Algae club members’ brainstorming session for transformation strategies.
Q: What’s one surprising discovery or fact about algae that your club loves to share?
Our algae [sic] is a great candidate for a species that could survive desert and Martian-like conditions. We thought that was really cool and we wanted to see if we could enhance that survivability with genes derived from a tardigrade. Also, our algae is [sic] notoriously hard to work with but presents immense gains for humanity!
We are excited to see what the Solano Community College Algae Club continues to accomplish as future leaders in the algal biotechnology industry!
Until next time, Algae Enthusiasts!
The Algae Foundation, 2309 Markoe Ave., Wentzville, MO 63385
