Louisiana Forest Products Development Center

Director's Message

In the State of Louisiana, the forest industry contributes over 50% of the total value of all agricultural, animal and fish/wildlife commodities. In addition to lumber, plywood, OSB and the production of other primary products, valuable secondary products are also produced such as furniture and kitchen cabinets. In 1994 the LSU Agricultural Center established the Louisiana Forest Products Laboratory (LFPL). In 2003 we changed our name to the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center (LFPDC) to better reflect the breadth of our expertise and client base. The Center, now an integral part of the School of Renewable Natural Resources, provides technical assistance to the primary and value-added processing wood products industries in Louisiana. Since its inception, the LFPDC has made great strides and is currently firmly positioned as one of the most recognized and productive forest products research and outreach centers in the United States.

I'd like to thank you for visiting our website and would like to share with you some of the many activities we are involved in to support forest sector development in Louisiana, the Nation and the World. I hope you are as impressed as I am with the breadth and scope of our expertise and activities. Please feel free to contact us at the Center for more information.

Richard Vlosky
Director, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center

News

New Visiting Research Fellow for LFPDC

Ms. Andreja Pirc, PhD student and instructor with the Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb Croatia, is a visiting Research Fellow working with Dr. Richard Vlosky. They will be conducting a study of innovation and competitiveness in the U.S. furniture industry.

The LSU AgCenter will hold a “Green” Building Conference Sept. 29 at its Burden Center in Baton Rouge.

Green building materials are environmentally responsible because impacts are considered over the life of the product. Some of the factors that make these building materials desirable for use in sustainable building are resource efficiency, energy efficiency and affordability. Wood-based building materials meet these requirements because they are: 1) Natural, plentiful and renewable; 2) Produced using resource-efficient manufacturing processes; 3) Locally available; 4) Reusable and recyclable; and 5) Durable.

The purpose of this meeting is to raise industry awareness to the many uses for wood products in green building projects. This will help develop markets for the forest products industry and provide information on locally available building materials for architects, contractors, home builders and interior designers. For more information, please visit: www.lsuagcenter.com/greenbuilding or click HERE to download Registration Form

Dr. Todd Shupe elected Vice-President of the Society of Wood Science and Technology.

Dr. Todd Shupe, a forest products professor at the LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana Forest Products Development Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been elected Vice President of the Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST). Shupe will officially assume his new responsibilities at the Society’s annual international convention on June 24 in Boise, Idaho. In 2010, he will assume the role of President-Elect, followed by the the role of president in 2011. The Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST) is an internationally-recognized professional organization of wood scientists, engineers, marketing specialists and other professionals concerned with science and technology of wood and lignocellulosic materials. Shupe will be the youngest President in the history of the organization, which was founded in 1958. The website for the SWST is: http://www.swst.org

New Publications

Rangika Perera, PhD student and her advisor, Dr. Richard Vlosky, Director, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, LSU AgCenter, recently published a book on US wood product importing. The citation is: Perera, Rangika and Richard P. Vlosky. 2009. “An Overview of the Wood Product Import sector in the U.S”. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Dudweiler Landstr. 125 a, D - 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany. 92p. ISBN 978-3-639-13770-5.

--also in: Publications / Working Papers (click titles to view)! (updated 7/8/2009)

Working Paper 85: A Research Agenda for Forest Products Marketing & Business Development in Louisiana: 2009-2013. March 2009. Vlosky

Working Paper 86: Cooperative Extension Employee Satisfaction in the Workplace: Does Race Matter? March 2009, Vlosky, Dunn

Working Paper 87: A Comparison of the Primary and Secondary Wood Products Sectors in Louisiana: 2008. July 2009. Clément, Vlosky