Wood Science Talks

Sue Anagnost is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York (SUNY), College of Environmental Science  and Forestry, Syracuse, USA, where she continues to serve as the Director of the Tropical Timber Information Center. Sue always liked biology and studying plants, which brought her to wood anatomy, as it had an application to wood products. Beside wood anatomy Sue has also worked on topics such as wood ultrastructure, wood decay, and mycology, with light microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy being always heavily utilized techniques in her work and in teaching.   Sue explains the importance of wood identification of tropical species to help preventing illegal timber trading. As wood anatomy for the identification of wood species is an "imperfect science", Sue also talks about using DNA and chemical fingerprint information to better identify commercially traded timber. With the todays developments in wood science, especially with the increasing mass timber constructions, she is convinced that wood anatomy will continue to be an attractive and important study method.     

Alfred Teischinger is internationally one of the most prominent wood technologists. Before retiring he was Full Professor at BOKU Vienna, Austria, and he is talking about what brought him into wood, and shares his philosophy about technology, science, also with respect to society. The major focus of this talk is on the now published Springer Handbook of Wood Science and Technology, which he co-edited, an over 2000 pages strong volume covering wood biology, chemistry and physics, structure-property relations, wood-based materials, and much more. Professor Teischinger talks about fundamental technological perspectives and industrial processes beyond sawmilling, the manufacturing of wood products, leading to wood applications. With great appreciation of  wood as a resource, he is a person who has the unique gift of thinking ahead of time.

Wayan Darmawan is a Full Professor at the Department of Forest Product, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB University), Indonesia, where he is with the Wood Quality Improvement Technology Division. His interests are around machining of wood, and how to improve lower quality plantation wood though modification trials. Prof.  Darmawan  is talking about his research, about the offered wood program, the many students they are getting each year, about the wood industry in Indonesia, and how important it is to use more wood in civil engineering. Prof. Daramawan also tells about the value of having their wood program accredited by SWST, which helped to raise the standards  and the international visibility. 

Douglas J. Gardner is Professor and Program Leader of Sustainable Materials Technology in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine. He is also member of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. Gardner’s research and teaching focus on polymer and interfacial science aspects of wood-polymer composite materials. He has been involved in research ranging from adhesion, surface science, cellulose nanocomposites, to extruded wood plastic composites, and additive manufacturing.  At the Composite Center they have recently presented the world’s first 3D printed fully bio-based home. Prof. Gardner reviews his career path, how much SWST has helped him to build a strong network, and reveals also what he enjoys in addition to being a professor and researcher: singing and playing the guitar. 

Mike Wolcott is a Regents Professor for Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.  Grown up in the mountains he first got into forestry, before entering wood science and engineering. His curiosity and interdisciplinary attitude, which he sees genuine to wood science, brought him to wood quality, adhesives, polymer processing and composites, biomass and biofuels. Learning from students is a great priviledge: "I never had a student that didn't bring in a different viewpoint to a project!", he says. This is the value of research, bringing in different perspectives, also to industry. Mike talks about the todays grant societal challenges, such as climate change, carbon management, or the entire shift of society towards circular economy.

Ulrich Müller is Professor at BOKU Vienna, and it would not be incorrect to say that he is currently one of the brightest minds in wood science. As a trained carpenter he has worked in industry for years, before starting an academic career. He has pursued numerous industry- focused developments, and all his projects are strongly rooted in  a basic wood science understanding ("we need to start with the cell wall!"). He runs projects with e.g. the major German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, to develop wooden components for automotives. Beside wood science, Ulrich is a fictional novelist and has written several books (in German), and runs also a Youtube channel that includes wood science teaching videos. His personal philosophy is fostered by two complementary words: curiosity and creativity. 

Francesco Negro is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Italy. His main research interests is related to innovative wood-based products, timber grading, regulations and standards, and the effects of wood on the environmental. He recently edited the open access book "Wood in Sport Equipment — Heritage, Present, Perspective", freely available from the SWST Website (https://www.swst.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Wood-in-sport-equipment_Heritage-present-perspective.pdf), which describes the changing uses of wood as a material for sport items such as bats, boats, bows and arrows, etc. but also of wood in sport facilities such as sporting halls, basketball, courts, cycling tracks, and horse stables. The book holds 35 chapters, writtern by 39 authors, coming from Italy, Austria, Chile, Italy, Madagascar, Norway, Poland, and the USA.  Prof. Negro is talking about what has brought him into wood, his research interests, carreer paths, and his overall fascination about wood. 

Anne Wekesa is from Kenya, and she has been selected as one among 16 "Woman Ambassadors of Wood Science", a SWST-sponsored traveling exhibition designed to celebrate women ambassadors over time. In this Wood Science Talk Anne is talking on how she got enrolled into a wood science program in Kenya, how passionate she is about teaching young people, and about the importance of wood in her home country. She is dreaming about having once a wood technology lab at her home university in Kenya, with the hope that she might get help here from the wood science community. She is also explaining her research around bioenergy, carbon and wood products, and the link to climate change. Anne is happy that SWST got her, and she sees SWST as a truly global association. 

Wenxuan Wu is a PhD student at The University of Queensland, and the winner of the student poster competition at the International SWST Convention that took place July 2022 in Australia. His research is about Smouldering issues of CCA-Treated Timber that can cause collapse of wooden buildings after bushfires. Wenxuan holds two master degrees, one in chemical engineering, and a second one in fire safety engineering. He claims that wood has its own advantages when it comes to fire safety, and he is also convinced that for Australia wood might be the best material for constructions. He sees himself as a research interest driven person, he loves teaching, and his vision is to become an real expert in general timber fire safety. 

Victoria ("Vicki") Herian has been the Executive Director of the Society of Wood Science and Technology for the past 46 years. Learn about the early times of the society, how it all developed, why the strong focus on wood science, how the society became fully international, the benefits of becoming a member, mastering covid, getting involved with the society, why young researchers should join, and also some personal aspects such as the role of wood in Vicki's daily life.  

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