November 2008

KUDOS — The Society of Wood Science and Technology announced that WSE authors of two papers were selected as winners to receive the SWST George Marra Award for Excellence in Writing: Second Place --- Lori Elkins, Jeffrey J. Morrell, and Robert J. Leichti, "Establishing a through-boring pattern for utility poles" and Honorable Mention --- Erin N. Anderson, Robert J. Leichti, Edward G.  Sutt, Jr., and David V. Rosowsky, "Sheathing nail bending-yield stress: Effect on cyclic performance of wood shear walls". Both papers were published in Wood and Fiber Science in 2007.

International Travels: Barbara Lachenbruch and Jim Funck served on a team that reviewed the Wood Science and Technology program at the University of Bío-Bío in Concepcion, Chile for potential accreditation by SWST. Barb, Jim, Scott Leavengood and Rakesh Gupta attended the International Convention of the SWST in Concepcion, Chile and made a variety of science and technical presentations. They were joined by OSU alums Ernesto Wagner and Jerry Winandy. Jerry is the current SWST President and Jim Funck is President-elect.  Fred Kamke visited the Department of Wood Science and Technology, University of Ljubljana in Slovenia to discuss research collaboration, present a lecture on adhesive penetration measurement techniques and participate in a PhD dissertation defense.  John Nairn attended the 5th European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) Conference Switzerland and gave a paper on "The Fracture Toughness of Medium Density Fiber Board (MDF) Accounting for Fiber Bridging and Crack-Plane Interference Effects." The co-author was recent WSE MS graduate, Noah Matsumoto.

Industry Connections:  Chris Knowles, Kathryn Kamke (MS student) and Jeff Vaughn (WSE undergraduate student) performed strength tests on some black cottonwood material for an Oregon wood products firm that has led to a 10 fold increase in black cottonwood sales. David Smith hosted the plant manager at the Flakeboard Particleboard plant in Albany (Duraflake), and the technical director for both Duraflake and the Eugene MDF mill to talk about student internships and senior projects. Flakeboard has employed a number of WST students over the years, including two last summer. Both students chose senior projects on Flakeboard issues. Despite the economic downturn Flakeboard pledged to support their internship and senior projects programs with WSE and would like to grow the relationship.  

OWIC: Chris Knowles attended the North American Wholesale Lumber Association (NAWLA) Trader's Market in Chicago, IL where he met with dozens of Oregon-based wood products manufacturers and wholesalers and discussed employment opportunities for WSE undergraduates and the types of assistance OWIC can provide for them

Lignin Modification: Barb Lachenbruch and PhD student Steve Voelker with FES colleagues and collaborators at WSU are exploring how lignin modification affects wood function in hybrid poplars.  Much research has focused on modifying trees to make wood-pulping for paper more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient.  However, the collaboration showed reduced strength and stiffness when lignin was reduced. Reducing lignin from about 20% of the mass (controls) to less than 15% of the mass resulted in transgenic trees that were more branchy and tapered, and in many cases, contained collapsed or occluded vessels. Their water transport was also reduced up to 1000-fold, probably contributing to the poor growth.  Note that these ‘trees’ are only 2 years old (with a rotation age of 7-10 years), and that data analyses are still ongoing.  The results are not surprising from a biological standpoint, given that the amounts and location of lignification within and among the cell types that make up wood is a complex and highly evolved feature. These results show that wood likely has a narrowly tolerable range of lignin levels that can provide trees the support they need. These findings should also help open the door for further intelligent engineering of tree biochemistry that could identify optimal lignin contents and reactivity without sacrificing growth and yield in the pursuit of more pulping-efficient wood.

NEW RESEARCH DIRECTION: A new research concentration in the area "durability of wood structures and components" is planned by WSE faculty. Combining expertise in biological decay, timber engineering, and composites this new thrust will target durability in wood-based building systems—a potential weakness in green building systems. Milo Clauson, Rakesh Gupta, Fred Kamke, Mike Milota, Jeff Morrell, Lech Muszyński, and John Simonsen recently prepared a concept paper describing potential research topics and required facilities to test non-isothermal moisture movement in full-size building components and structures, and to evaluate the dynamics of product off-gassing.

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.