News

LFPDC Advisory Board (click to view)

LFPDC 2007 in Review and 2008-2009 Goals & Objectives (click to view)

LSU AgCenter Wood Testing Lab Gains Accreditation (click for details)

Research in Progress: Moisture Control in Insulated Raised Floor Systems in Southern Louisiana  (pdf, click for details)

Sri Lankan Couple Receive Masters Degrees in Forest Products Marketing

At spring commencement 2008 a married couple in working under Dr. Richard Vlosky both received Masters degrees in forest products marketing. Both are continuing on in Ph.D programs under Dr. Vlosky.

Priyan Perera was born in 1977 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After successfully completing the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level examination (GCE A/L), he was selected to follow Forestry and Environmental Science Special Degree at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. For his undergraduate thesis, Priyan investigated some wood properties of three plantation timber species in Sri Lanka. He received the Bachelor of Science Forestry and Environmental Science degree on August 2004 with First Class honors. In the Fall of 2005 he enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) to pursue a master’s degree in forestry, concentrating on forest products marketing under Dr. Richard P. Vlosky. In the August of 2006, he got married to Rangika Bandara. While progressing towards the completion of his master’s degree in forestry, Priyan joined the Department of Environmental Science at LSU to pursue another master’s degree in environmental sciences. His Master of Science (forestry) degree has a strong specialization on forest certification. At the end of Spring 2008, Priyan graduated with his MS (forestry). He enrolled in the PhD program in forestry at LSU, and will start his program in Summer 2008. His PhD dissertation research will look into modeling consumer behavior in ecotourism. After his PhD, Priyan plans to go back to Sri Lanka and join academia to teach and continue research in his field.

Rangika, his wife, was born in 1978 in Rathnapura, Sri Lanka. She has completed the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level examination (GCE A/L) in a girls’ school at Rathnapura. Based on the obtained score for this competitive exam(GCE A/L), she was selected to follow the program: Forestry and Environmental Science Degree at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Colombo, Sri Lanka. For her undergraduate thesis, Rangika constructed a growth model to predict the individual stem volume of Alstonia macrophylla Wall. Ex G. She received her Bachelor of Science in Forestry and Environmental Science (special) degree on May 2005 with First Class honors. After completing her Bachelor of Science program she got married to Priyan Perera in August of 2006 and she became Rangika Thilaksri Perera. In the Fall of 2006 she enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) to pursue a Masters’ degree in forestry, focused on forest products marketing under Dr. Richard P. Vlosky. For her masters thesis she researched on an overview of the wood product import sector in the United States with an emphasis on opportunities for Sri Lankan exporters. Her Master of Science (forestry) degree has a strong specialization on forest products marketing and experimental statistics. At present she is following her PhD program under the guidance of Dr. Richard P. Vlosky at LSU. For her PhD research she would be interested in modeling the best practices of ecotourism for the market segment of ecotourists. She plans to go back to her motherland, Sri Lanka, and join the academia in the future.

Eberhardt Honored At LSU

Baton Rouge, La ------ Dr. Thomas L. Eberhardt, Research Scientist, with the USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station in Pineville, La was recently honored as the third speaker in the Elvin T. Choong Memorial Lecture Series at the School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. Dr. Eberhardt presented a lecture on May 13 entitled “Southern Pine Bark Quality: Impact on the Living Tree and the Utilization of Available Biomass Resources." The presentation was well received by the diverse audience due to its many applications to both forestry and forest products. For the past six years, Dr. Eberhardt has led a research program encompassing the chemistry of extractives and the relationships between wood chemistry, wood quality and forest health. His applied research involves the development of new applications and processing technologies for forest biomass utilization. According to Dr. Todd Shupe, coordinator of the Lecture Series, “Tom was selected as this year’s honoree because his research program emphasizes the relationship between forest management and wood quality and forest health, which were very important to the late Dr. Choong. Also, Tom is an outstanding scientist and person and I wanted our students in the School to be exposed to him both on a professional and personal level.” Elvin Choong was a long-time professor of wood science at LSU and is for whom the lecture series is named. He was strongly dedicated to forest conservation, students, and academics.

Vlosky Receives Silver Awards for Excellence

Dr. Richard Vlosky, Director, Professor & Extension Specialist with the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, School of Renewable Natural Resources, LSU AgCenter, received two Silver Awards for Excellence on February 6th from Southern Regional Extension Forestry. The first award is in the Area of Computer Software & Web Sites for his work on developing the Louisiana Forest Industries Web Site (http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/environment/forestry/forest_products/Primary_Forest/). The second award is in the area of Journal Publications for his article in the Journal of Extension titled “Web-based Communities as a Tool for Extension and Outreach.” The article was co-authored by Dr. Sanna M. Kallioranta, Consultant with Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting in New York, and Scott Leavengood, Wood Products Extension Agent, Dept. of Wood Science & Engineering, Oregon State University.

Lumber Drying Workshop

The Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, part of the Louisiana State University AgCenter, will be hosting a comprehensive 3 day lumber drying workshop “Drying Lumber For Quality and Profit” on July 23-25, 2008. The workshop will be held on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, La. This workshop will thoroughly cover the lumber drying process from start to finish of hardwood and softwood lumber. In addition, participants will gain valuable hands-on experience in the laboratory periods.

Some of the topics to be covered include wood-water relations, wood anatomy, EMC-temperature-RH, moisture meters, steam kilns and operation, kiln control principles, drying stress and degrade, statistical process control, trouble shooting, air drying and stain, and wood shrinkage. The instructors for the workshop include Drs. Todd Shupe, Qinglin Wu, and Charles Clément with the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, School of Renewable Natural Resources, LSU AgCenter and Pat Bennett, Kiln Superviser, with Roy O. Martin Lumber Co. in Alexandria, La. Mr. Bennett has over 20 years of industrial hardwood and softwood lumber drying experience. All instructors are international experts in the field of lumber drying and wood-moisture relationships. Contact Dr. Todd Shupe for more information at tshupe@agcenter.lsu.edu or (225)578-6432.

Check Out These Links!

http://www.rnr.lsu.edu/lfpdc