One of the top universities in the United States, Cornell University, recently opened its Biofuels Research Laboratory (BRL). The BRL is a US$ 6 million, 11,000-square-foot facility where multidisciplinary teams of Cornell University scientists will conduct research and development on economical and sustainable (non-food-crop-based) biofuels production. The principal investigator is Larry Walker, a professor of biological and environmental engineering. Research focus will be "on the creation of cellulosic ethanol -- a process that frees sugars from perennial grasses and woody biomass and biologically converts them into fuel". According to Professor Walker, although the technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic mass into ethanol already exists, "the challenge is to generate the fuel in a way that's efficient, cost-effective for producers and consumers, and sustainable. Solving the problem requires a systemic analysis of biofuel production, from using sophisticated microscopes (to study enzymatic processes at the nanoscale) to transforming plant sugars into ethanol in a 150-liter fermentation reactor"..