Steve Zicari

Steve Zicari has a diverse work experience in the fields of advanced biofuel and biochemical production, renewable energy, and sustainable bioproducts. Steve currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer at California Safe Soil, where they are responsible for quality assurance, development engineering, and production R&D. Prior to this role, they were the Director of Engineering and R&D at the same company, where they transformed food and agricultural waste into fertilizers, feeds, fuels, and sustainable bioproducts.

Before joining California Safe Soil, Steve worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Davis, where they focused on researching advanced biofuel and biochemical production and processing systems. Steve also led projects integrating sugar beet-based biorefining technologies for ethanol, biogas, and high-value co-products. During their time at the university, they applied industrial biotechnology concepts for organism and fermentation optimization, improved product refining methods, and conducted process and economic modeling for system scale-up.

Additionally, Steve worked as a Senior Project Engineer at HMI Energy, a Homeland Renewable Energy company. Steve'srole involved developing biogas and biomethane resources using anaerobic digestion technology. Steve also gained experience as a Senior Project/Process Engineer at Microgy, Inc., where they were responsible for project engineering and implementation aspects for thermophillic co-digestion facilities. Steve played a key role in constructing and starting up the largest agricultural-biogas facility in North America at the time, which produced Renewable Natural Gas.

Steve Zicari has a strong educational background in engineering. Steve obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Biological/Biosystems Engineering from the University of California, Davis, where they studied from 2010 to 2016. Prior to that, they earned a Master of Science (MS) degree in Biological and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. Steve also holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Cornell University. In addition to their degrees, they obtained a Professional Engineer (PE) certification from the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists in June 2009.