Biobased Industry Outlook Conference
August 29-30, 2005
Iowa State University - Ames, IA
Stephen Shaler
As a Professor of Wood Science and Technology, and the Associate Director of the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) Center at the University of Maine, Stephen Shaler focuses on the micro-mechanical behavior of wood composite materials. He has overseen numerous research projects including the mechanical behavior of wood fibers, the mechano-sorptive behavior of adhesive films and solid wood, structure/property relationships of wood composite materials included wood/thermoplastic polymer systems, the use of XMT and LSCM for microstructural characterization of composite durability and the penetration of adhesives and inks into coated papers.
As a co-author on over 60 publications and two patents, Shaler has received the L.J. Markwardt Award for the most outstanding paper in the field of wood as an engineering material from the Forest Products Society. He has also received the G. Peirce Webber Outstanding Research Award from the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture at the University of Maine, and twice received the First Place George Marra Award for Excellence in Writing and Science from the Society of Wood Science and Technology.
Shaler has served as Panel Manager for the USDA/NRICG Wood Utilization and is currently conducting a Life Cycle Inventory Assessment on the production of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) in the Northeastern and North Central US. He is also involved in the development of a pilot plant line for the production of OSB/OSL products and is evaluating the influence of extraction technologies on the performance and environmental footprint of wood composites. He received his BS and MS in Wood Science from Colorado State University and his PhD in Forest Resources from Pennsylvania State University.
