NC State Natural Resources College to Commemorate the Centennial of the Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon

2014 Marks the Centennial of the Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon

passenger pigeon - extinctOn September 1, 1914, Martha died. Her death, at the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, marked the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon – a species made extinct due to the actions of humans.

The College of Natural Resources invites you to join us at one of these events marking this significant moment in environmental history.

“In Memory of Martha” Sculpture Build
Help remember the Passenger Pigeon by folding origami pigeons to symbolically recreate the flocks of 100 years ago.  The origami birds will be assembled into a sculpture.
More @ foldtheflock.org

WHEN: September 2, 2014 / 11:00 – 2:00 pm
WHERE: The Brickyard, NC State Main Campus

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“Wildlife Trafficking: A Growing Global Threat to Threatened and Endangered Species” Lecture
SPEAKER: Susan Lieberman, Vice President – International Policy
Wildlife Conservation Society

Dr. Susan LiebermanWHEN: September 9, 2014 / 7:00 -8:00 pm
WHERE: Nelson Auditorium, NC State Main Campus

Dr. Susan Lieberman has worked in international biodiversity conservation, at the intersection between science and policy, for more than 25 years, and has extensive experience working on international wildlife trade. She is a member of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking, former director of the Species Programme of the WWF-International, and Chief of the Division of Scientific Authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

She has worked on the conservation of species of tigers, African and Asian elephants, African and Asian rhinos, giant pandas, African and Asian great apes, whales, marine turtles, and polar bears and conducted postdoctoral research on tortoises in Mexico and on prosimians.

Lieberman completed her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California where her research focused on tropical ecology, and amphibians and reptiles in Costa Rica.

 

These events are part of the NC State College of Natural Resources’ 85th Anniversary Celebration

NC State University to Host “Progress in Paper Physics Seminar 2014”

Progress in Paper 2014 Raleigh NCBy Guest Blogger, Dr. Joel Pawlak; Asst. Professor, Dept. of Forest Biomaterials

From September 8-11, 2014, the international paper physics community is coming to Raleigh and NC State University for its annual meeting. This is a group of scientists dedicated to understanding the behavior of paper from a physical standpoint.

Over the years, NC State has had a number of professors involved in this community. Perhaps some of you alumni remember taking a class from Dr. Olf, Dr. Kocurek, Dr. Ram, Dr. Rojas, or even me, Dr. Pawlak? These faculty members have all taken part in the paper physics community over the years.

This year’s meeting is part of annual gathering of this paper physics community that rotates around the world. These meetings date back to the 1960’s when the concept of describing the properties of paper from a fundamental standpoint was first explored.

Early work described the tensile strength of paper, formation of paper, bonding in paper, and the strength of single papermaking fibers. Over the years, the science has continued to advance and involves a diverse set scientific principles that describe the water resistance of paper, barrier properties of paper, and the compression strength of paper. Advanced mathematical modeling of paper, state of the art imaging and x-ray tomography are all now staples of the scientific approaches used by the community.

This year, the conference will be hosted by NC State and sponsored by Domtar and MWV.

This will be the first time NC State will host the conference and provides us an opportunity to showcase the strength of paper science and engineering program at NC State. The focus of the conference has evolved to include emerging areas of paper industry including novel products and materials from forest products.

The conference has been timed to coincide with the annual NC State Pulp and Paper Foundation meeting. If you are planning to come to Raleigh this fall for the foundation meeting, consider extending your time and taking part in the paper physics conference earlier in the week.

I look forward to seeing in Raleigh this fall and I hope that you will come to both the paper physics conference and the annual foundation meeting!

View the preliminary technical program and register for the conference>>

NC State University Paper Science & Engineering Program to Celebrate 60 Years of Success

NC State Paper Science & Engineering 60th AnniversaryThe Paper Science & Engineering(PSE) program in the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University will celebrate a tradition of success with a 60th Anniversary Celebration in September 2014. Alumni, industry partners, donors, faculty, staff, and students are invited to join us.

Three days of activities are planned for September 10-12 including: an Open House at Biltmore, Robertson and Pulp and Paper Labs, a Celebration Banquet, a Paper Industry Career Fair, a Golf Tournament, a Corn Hole Tournament, Lunch at Lonnie Poole Golf Course, “Insider” Tours of campus, and the NC State Pulp & Paper Foundation Annual Meeting!

One of the oldest and most respected paper science and engineering programs in the world, NC State has been building industry leaders and supporting a robust, innovative and sustainable industry since the creation of the Pulp and Paper program and the Pulp and Paper Foundation.

Students of the program are highly valued by companies as summer interns and semester co-ops. Nearly 100% of students graduate with multiple job offers with starting salaries among the highest at NC State University.

PSE graduates make significant contributions to the paper industry, other chemical process industries, and many other professional arenas. Our alumni include vice-presidents, mill managers, technical managers, research directors, consultants, sales personnel, business owners, professors, teachers, lawyers, doctors, and clergymen.

With a long history of outstanding student care and thorough engineering education, the PSE program has much of which to be proud.

A fine testament to NC State’s land grant mission, PSE’s research and technical service programs support the state’s Forest Products industry – an industry that contributes almost 30 billion dollars annually to North Carolina’s economy.

The program’s faculty has been recognized with numerous honors including six TAPPI Fellows, the highest honor awarded by the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry, more than any other institution.

This coming year, PSE expects to have 170 undergraduates and 40 graduate students.

For details of the NC State Paper Science & Engineering 60th Anniversary Celebration
visit: http://go.ncsu.edu/pse60th

Contact: Jennifer Piercy, (919) 515-7709   jennifer_piercy@ncsu.edu

McCord to Serve as Research Associate Dean for NC State College of Natural Resources

Dr. Marian McCord - NC State UniversityDr. Marian G. McCord has been selected as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Natural Resources at NC State University.

Dr. McCord is currently a professor with appointments in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science at North Carolina State University, the Joint UNC/NCSU Department of Biomedical Engineering, and is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University, as well as a Master of Science in Bioengineering and a Ph.D. in Textiles and Polymer Science both from Clemson University. She joined the faculty of the College of Textiles at NC State in 1994 and leads NC State’s Global Health Initiative.

Dr. McCord sees her research field as “textiles as interventions” – i.e., textiles that prevent or treat disease, or improve human health and well-being. Some of her global health related projects include nonchemical insecticidal bed nets and low cost hemostatic bandages. She is a scientific advisor to Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), a social venture dedicated to meeting the needs for safe and affordable sanitary products for women in the developing world. The College of Natural Resources is also a partner in the SHE project.

Dr. McCord has been the co-director of the Atmospheric Plasma Laboratory at the College of Textiles at NC State University for 14 years, and is a cofounder of Katharos, Inc., a company that aims to provide phosphate filtration solutions for end-stage renal disease patients.

She has made significant contributions to her field including serving on the editorial board of the Journal of Fiber Bioengineering and Informatics, as an officer and executive committee member of the Triangle Global Health Consortium Advisory Board and the steering committee of the NC One Health Collaborative.

Recently Dr. McCord was recognized as one of 125 Transformational Women at NC State for her work as Director of the Global Health Initiative and for her work with SHE.

“Over the last 20 years, Marian McCord has built an interdisciplinary portfolio of research focused on improving human health and wellness by developing novel textiles that prevent and treat disease. She has a proven track record assembling and leading multidisciplinary research teams and has received funding from a wide variety of sources.” says Dr. Mary Watzin, dean of the College of Natural Resources. “Through her work, Marian has earned a national and international reputation for solving practical global health challenges. I am delighted that she is willing to take on this new challenge and am confident that she will bring creativity, energy, and a genuine appreciation of power of collaboration to the College of Natural Resources.”

“I’m looking forward to joining CNR, and to working with the faculty, staff and students to advance the College’s research initiative” says Dr. McCord. “I think that CNR is the right place for me to be able to make a significant impact in addressing some of the greatest challenges facing society today.”

Originally from Newport Rhode Island, Dr. McCord lives in Apex with her husband and two children. She will assume her duties as associate dean of research on August 1, 2014 and will hold academic rank in the Department of Forest Biomaterials.

Sustainable Solution Is Changing Lives

Tyson Huffman, a junior studying paper science and engineering at NC State UniversityForest Biomaterials  junior and former Marine Tyson Huffman in NC State University’s College of Natural Resources, is working in Rwanda with Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE).  The work he is doing is changing lives.

In the developing world, the absence of affordable sanitary pads is more than a health and hygiene issue — it’s an economic and educational problem, too.

The solution to that problem is a cheap, sustainable, locally sourced sanitary pad that could be a game-changer for Rwandan girls and women.

“This guy went over there and did what I don’t think any other faculty member or student could have done,” said Med Byrd, associate professor of paper science and engineering at NC State. “In the space of about three months, with no tools, he took them from two machines in the middle of a parking lot to a dedicated crew making fluff pulp.”

Read more and watch the video>>