March - April 2008

Woodpeckers and Utility Poles: Connie Love presented a paper on the degree of damage associated with woodpeckers on utility poles at the International Conference on Overhead Lines in Fort Collins, Colorado to over 350 utility engineers and their assorted paparazzi. This presentation resulted from a collaborative project with Consumers Power (CPI). CPI made an above-ground inspection of a local utility line (near your home, of course) and found that 25% of the poles had large voids and needed to be replaced. The poles were pulled and were sectioned using Jim Kiser’s portable sawmill. The sections were scanned and a ME student working with Jeff Morrell’s group created a 3-D image using a program called Reconstruct. Click here to see photos of sections and the 3-D image. The purple area in the image is the decay column (Pacific damp wood termite damage with decay) and the sloping red areas are fumigant treatment holes. This section of pole is 8 feet from the butt of a Class 1 80 ft Douglas-fir, penta treated pole that is only 25 years old.

Notable Travels: John Nairn attended the 4th Material Point Method Workshop in Salt Lake City Utah where he gave a talk numerical modeling of wood and other complex materials. He also chaired one session. The next Workshop is scheduled to come to OSU.

John Simonsen co-chaired and presented at the “Biobased Nanocomposites and Nanotechnology Symposium” at the record-breaking American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans. Over 300 presentations on Cellulose and Renewable Materials were offered to over 10,000 attendees. Rakesh Gupta visited APA-The Engineered Wood Association to look at there 3D full house test facility, and McFarland Cascade, Wood Treating Co. in Tacoma, WA. Jim Reeb and Charles Brunner were invited to talk about their recent manufacturing studies at the 2008 Wood Technology Clinic and Show in Portland. Fred Kamke was invited to present a lecture on “Structural strand composites from modified wood” at the International Wood Composites Symposium & Technical Workshop in Seattle. John Simonsen was an invited speaker at the INNO.08 Conference in Montreal, Canada, and spoke on "Cellulose Nanocrystals: Recent Research Results" in the symposium "Cellulose products and nanotechnologies."
 
Research Needs Workshop: Lech Muszyński co-authored a position paper on the research directions and needs in wood-based composites area for the American Society of Civil Engineers Structures Congress Workshop on "Wood Engineering Challenges in the New Millennium: Critical research needs". Lech and Mike Wolcott (WSU) are also co-chairing a discussion session on "Materials and Wood-Based Composites". Rakesh Gupta is one of the organizers of the Workshop held in Vancouver BC and is chairing a discussion session on Designing Wood Structures for Durability". His two graduate students (Arijit and Katie) are also participating in the discussions.

International Workshops: OWIC (Scott Leavengood and Chris Knowles) hosted about 25 visitors from Asociación Cantabra de Empresarios de la Madera, a wood products industry association in northern Spain. The group was in Oregon for the Wood Technology Clinic & Show and paid a special visit to Corvallis to learn about Oregon's forests and forest products industry as well as research and outreach in WSE.

NEW VENTURES:

• Fred Kamke recently started a research project with the Willamette Valley Company to assist with the development of a resin additive for use in manufacture of OSB. The goal is to reduce the amount or petroleum derived adhesive used in the product and hopefully reduce material costs.
• Scott Leavengood, Chris Knowles, and Eric Hansen, with faculty members from Forest Engineering and Forest Science, submitted an invited proposal on “Enhancing Innovation in Oregon’s Forest Cluster” to the Oregon Innovation Council for $3.8 million. There's lot more hurdles to jump but this is an exciting new initiative that is seeing industry interest.
• Kaichang Li received $76k from the United Soybean Board for new research on the Development of Polyamines for Glycerin”.
• Chris Knowles organized an information session on jobs and internships for WSE undergraduates with JELD-WEN.

Leavings: Chris Gabrielli successfully completed his MS degree with Fred Kamke in March. His thesis title was "Chemical modification of viscoelastic thermal compressed wood for improved dimensional stability." Chris is off to BC to explore some recreational opportunities before taking next steps. Rajat Panwar, soon to finish PhD with Eric Hansen, has accepted a tenure track job as an Assistant Professor of Business and Social Responsibility in Wisconsin.

DEPARTMENT OF WOOD SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

What is this? A monthly capsule summary of selected project updates, new ventures, new grants/ contracts/ testing programs, major papers, accomplishments, awards and kudos, other stuff you are proud of, or activities that your colleagues (and DH) might find interesting. The goal is better awareness of the professional activities of faculty, staff and students in Wood Science & Engineering.