Paper Science & Engineering Spring Program Update

Posted on June 7, 2010 by kmfaber2

NC State Paper Science & Engineering What's Happening in the NC State PSE Program?
Read the Paper Science & Engineering Spring Program Update to learn about…

Pulp & Paper Foundation Fall Meeting – Save the Date
Department Name Changes to Forest Biomaterials
Summer Internships Still Needed
This Year's Graduates!
New TAPPI Scholarship Winners
Pulp and Paper Badge Taught at Merit Badge University
TAPPI Recruiting Video Features Our Faculty & Students
Kocurek to Retire
Hubee Named TAPPI Fellow
Site Visits and More Cool Things PSE Students are Doing

CNR Volunteers Help Habitat for Humanity – Wake

Posted on June 7, 2010 by kmfaber2

Myron Floyd volunteers on Habitat for Humanity -Wake house deconstruction project On a beautiful spring morning in May, volunteers from the NC State College of Natural Resources (CNR) went to work tearing apart a house on the shores of Lake Wheeler. No, they weren’t crazed, they were in fact helping families in Wake County obtain a greener, less expensive way to obtain building materials by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity – Wake (HFH) on one of their de-construction projects.

Many think of HFH as home builders, not destroyers, but the de-construction program offers opportunities for HFH to earn money for building projects plus provide an excellent service in “re-use” of building materials.

remilled wood for use by Habitat And faculty and staff are not the only volunteers from the college, giving their time and expertise to Habitat for Humanity – Wake. During spring semester, the student chapter of the Forest Products Society, along with several wood products faculty and graduate students, reprocessed untreated deck boards into interior baseboard moulding for Wake Habitat for Humanity. The boards were donated by Georgia Pacific after a drying study the wood products group did for GP.

4 volunteers from the NC State College of Natural Resources Volunteer for Habitat for Humnanity - Wake house deconstruction project. The May HFH deconstruction project's four faculty/staff volunteers [Dr. Myron Floyd (PRTM), Laura Johnson (ET), Melinda Hall (Business) and James Jeuck (Ext. Forestry)] are part of an ongoing program developed by the CNR's staff and faculty to come together and be of service to the community.

Other projects in the past year have included sorting food donations at the Foodbank, staffing the Wake County Library book sale, cleaning up litter in local parks and more. Over 30 members of the faculty and staff have turned out to participate with the CNR Volunteers, many for multiple projects.

Paper Science and Engineering Students Tackle Need for Humanitarian Shelters

Posted on April 27, 2010 by kmfaber2

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Dr. Joel Pawlak, Professor, Department of Forest Biomaterials
North Carolina State University

humanitarian shelter design Raleigh, NC – In light of the recent disaster in Haiti, the need for temporary shelters that can be provided with humanitarian relief has been highlighted. Seniors in the Paper Science and Engineering Program at North Carolina State University have elected to tackle this critical issue facing the world.

As part of their senior design course, students have been tasked with the challenge of designing a lightweight humanitarian shelter that can be deployed throughout the world on a moment’s notice. The design criteria for the shelter include the ability: (1) to provide housing for three months for a family of four, (2) to be transported by one person on foot, (3) to protect occupants from mosquitoes, and (4) to be at least 80 % compostable with no toxic materials.

Patrick Buenaventura, a senior in Paper Science and Engineering, explains why he chose this project, "In terms of the disasters that have been happening, it was a great way to apply our knowledge to help people." Pat’s hometown is Crescent City, Florida. Being from Florida, Pat knows the strain a disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake can place on a community. He goes on to add, "Hopefully, one of our projects will become the innovation that is needed to help disaster victims."

One of the humanitarian shelter designs usingpaper, wood and/or paper composites Four design groups have been working in Dr. Pawlak’s Paper Physics and Product Design class to come up with novel solutions to this problem. Peter Jin, a senior in Paper Science in Engineering, comments that, "Meeting all the design criteria has been a challenge." The students have used various forms of paper, wood, and paper composites to generate structures that meet the strict criteria. The designs range from familiar house-type structures to geodesic domes.

Students will be testing their structural materials and presenting their final design prototypes at the Hodges Lab at NC State during the week of April 26, 2010.

Research a Natural for Our Graduate Students

Posted on February 19, 2010 by kmfaber2

student The Fifth Annual NC State University Graduate Student Research Symposium will be held Wednesday, March 10, 2010 from 1:30 to 4:00 pm at the McKimmon Center at NC State.

Come see the 191 poster presentations representing research being conducted in 60 graduate programs from all of NC State's colleges. Twenty-two College of Natural Resources graduate students are presenting.

The symposium showcases the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate research at NC State. This event is interesting whether you are a faculty member, a student, an alumnus or a member of the community interested in the research being done at NC State.

Turn out and talk with graduate students about their research.
Learn More at http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/research/symposium.html or email david_shafer@ncsu.edu .

Harold C. Blanchard Named 2009 Distinguished Alumnus by NC State University College of Natural Resources

Posted on February 12, 2010 by kmfaber2

NEWS RELEASE – February 9, 2009
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Tilla Fearn 919.513.4644 or tilla_fearn@ncsu.edu

Butch Blanchard accepts award from natural resources dean Robert Brown The College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University is pleased to announce the selection of our 2009 Distinguished Alumnus. Harold C. “Butch” Blanchard ’63 of Whiteville, N.C. was selected in recognition of his distinguished career as a forest manager and his many contributions to his profession, his community and the college. Blanchard accepted the honor January 29, 2010 at the NC State University Alumni Association’s “Evening of Stars” Gala in Raleigh.

Blanchard attended what was then the NC State School of Forestry on a four-year scholarship from the Continental Can Company. Later, he was awarded the George K. Slocum Scholarship. Blanchard earned five varsity letters in three track-and-field sports at NC State and was recognized as an ACC Outstanding Scholar-Athlete in 1963. Several years after graduating, Blanchard and his father, a practicing forester, began a forestry consulting business. Operating today as H.C. Blanchard and Associates, the company has provided land and timber sales, appraisals and forest management services for landowners with 275,000 wooded acres.

Harold C. "Butch" Blanchard One of Blanchard’s many contributions to the college was serving as president of the North Carolina Forestry Foundation Board of Directors. During his term, Blanchard led a reorganization and consolidation of funds that pushed foundation assets over $1 million, helped retire the mortgage debt on the Hofmann Forest and later was instrumental in establishing active management of the forest to fund numerous undergraduate and graduate scholarships.

According to Blanchard, he “was proudest at a scholarship dinner when (he) counted 26 undergraduate and graduate scholarships funded from Hofmann Forest receipts.” Blanchard left the board of directors in 1985 to assume the responsibility of Hofmann Forest manager, a position he held for 23 years. Under his management the forest returned more than $13 million to the college in needed support; support which played an incalculable role in the college’s growth into the national leader in natural resource education, research and service it is today. In addition to his support of the college over the years through his professional responsibilities – in 1998 Blanchard and his wife, Peggy, established the Harold E. and Gerda C. Blanchard Endowed Scholarship for young men and women who begin their studies at Southeastern Community College and continue their studies in natural resources at NC State University.

Blanchard is a member of the Society of American Foresters, the North Carolina Foresters Association, the North Carolina Society of Consulting Foresters, the National Woodlands Association and the Forest Farmers Association.

Active in his home community, Blanchard is a charter stockholder of Topsail National Bank and served on the board of Columbus National Bank where he assisted in its successful merger with successor Triangle Bank. When not working Blanchard acts in local theater productions and had a role in "Bastard Out of Carolina" directed by Angelica Houston; is a 12 time national sailing champion of Tanzer 16 sailboats; is a deacon, elder and sunday school teacher at Whiteville First Presbyterian Church; and played a major role in the founding of the North Carolina Museum of Forestry in Whiteville, North Carolina.