Paul Filson is a Post Doctoral Research Associate at the Center for Renewable Carbon, Department of Forestry Wildlife and Fisheries in University of Tennessee, Knoxville working with Dr. Nicole Labbee. He received his B.Sc. and M.Phil. degrees in Chemistry from University of Ghana specializing in natural products chemistry with emphasis on isolation, purification and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants. He obtained his Ph.D. in Forest Resource Science with emphasis on Wood Science and Technology from West Virginia University. Currently, his research work focuses on the chemical and structural analyses of switchgrass, a dedicated energy crop and subsequent development of PCA and PLS1 models using FTIR, NIR and LIBS spectra to discriminate and predict lignin structural properties, elemental and extractives composition of three varieties of switchgrass, Panicum virgatum.