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SWST
Society of Wood Science and Technology
1998 Annual Meeting
June 21, 1998
Fiesta Americana Hotel
Merida, Mexico
Minutes
SWST Annual Technical Session - Wood Products Industry In The 21st Century: Knowledge, Technology And Workforce Training Needs
8:00 - 8:25 David Cooper , Consultant, McLean, Virginia
Collaborative Pre-competitive Research in the U.S.
8:25 - 8:50 Heinz Koester , Professor, F. H. Rosenheim, Germany
European Industry Perspective
8:50 - 9:15 Gabriel Trevizo, Director of Business Development
Duraplay de Parral SA de CV., Chihuahua, Mexico
Knowledge and Technology Needs for the Mexican Wood Products Industry
9:15 - 9:40 Gilbert Comstock, Consultant, Tacoma, Washington
North American Industry Perspective
9:40 - 10:05 Sandy Steward, Managing Director, WoodLINKS, Vancouver, B.C.
Recruiting the Best and Brightest for the Wood Industry
10:10 - 10:45 Discussion (all speakers)
Moderator: J. David Barrett , Professor
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
10:45 - 11:45 Award Presentations
George Marra Awards
1st Place : John W. Stelmokas, Audrey G. Zink, and Joseph R. Loferski,
"Image Correlation Analysis of Multiple-Bolt Wood Connections",
Volume 29(3).
2nd Place : Stefan Zauscher and Philip E. Humphrey,
"Orienting Lignocellulosic Fibers and Particles by Means of a
Magnetic Field", Volume 29(1)
Honorable Mention : Dongjin Song and Simon Ellis,
"Localized Properties in Flakeboard: A Simulation Using Stacked
Flakes", Volume 29(4)
Honorable Mention: Ying H. Chui and Chun Ni
"Load-Embedment Response of Timber to Reversed Cyclic Load",
Volume 29(2)
Student Poster Competition
Certificates of Participation were presented to all entrants.
1st Place : Milan Sernek,
"Influence of MC and Method of Curing on the Structure of a UF Adhesive Bond"
2nd Place : Chris K. Andrews,
"The Influence of the Vertical Density Profile on Bending Properties,
Thickness Swell, and Bond Performance of Oriented
Strandboard"
International Visiting Scientist Award
John N. Saddler, University of British Columbia, going to Australia and New Zealand
Distinguished Service Award
Steve Sinclair (posthumously)
Everett Ellis
11:45 - 12:45 Annual Business Meeting and Lunch
Minutes of the 1997 Annual Meeting
A motion was made, seconded and passed to accept the minutes of the 1997 Annual Meeting as published in the January-February 1998 Newsletter.
Executive Director's Report - Vicki Herian
Current Members as of June 1, 1998
Full members 319
Student members 74
Retired members 50
Affiliate Member 1
TOTAL - 444
Members as of June 1, 1997
Full Members 291
Student members 87
Retired members 52
Affiliate Member 1
Total - 431
USA members 350
Canada members 35
Mexico members 3
Overseas members 56
Subscribers as of June 1, 1998 - 291Subscribers as of June 1, 1997 - 280
USA 121
Canada 16
Mexico 1
Overseas 153
Total - 291
Delinquent Members
Delinquent members as of June 1, 1998 -77 (not paid for 1997 dues)
Delinquent members as of June 1, 1998 - 48 (not paid for 1996 dues)
Delinquent subscribers as of June 1, 1998 - 45 (not paid for 1997)
Delinquent subscribers as of June 1, 1998 - 20 (not paid for 1996)
Compared to delinquent members as of June 1, 1997 - 85
Compared to delinquent subscribers as of June 1, 1997 - 67
Fidelity Spartan Money Market Fund and Vanguard Accounts
A dividend on the remaining balance from Fidelity was paid from February to March 1998 for a total of $36.45. The account was closed on April 17 with a deposit to our checking account of 392.33. The total Vanguard accounts have grown from a beginning balance of $61,100.00 on February 3, 1998 to $65,879.91 on March 31, 1998. This is a total gain of $4,779.91.
Checking Account - The balance in the checking account as of May 31, 1998 is $21,427.00.
Miscellaneous
The new Constitution and Bylaws, the Critical Issues paper on "Environmental Implications", the Accreditations Standards and Procedures, and the 1998 Membership Directory were printed and mailed. If you need additional copies, please contact me. I have also mailed posters to the schools promoting the Student Poster Annual Competition and listing past winners.
Allen Press' service called APT Online, which is our Table of Contents and Abstracts on the WWW, is online! Check it out at www.allenpress.com
Click on the APTOnline icon and follow through to the list of journals, where you will find Wood and Fiber Science . They now have our current volume, number 30, listed. However, they are working on making all of the back issues' Table of Contents and Abstracts available. Reprints of the individual articles can be obtained directly from the Abstract page where there is a link to "Uncover", a document delivery system. Our members can use this by using the login name access and the password deliver Once you type this, you are asked to set up your own profile. You can then search for articles, find the references, and then purchase reprints, if desired.
I am continuing to update and add to our web pages. Be sure to check out the information there at ws13.fpl.fs.fed.us/swst/ and send your comments for change or suggestions for additional input.
We've had 12 new full members and 27 new student members from June 1, 1997 to June 1, 1998.
Auditor's Report - Barb Wolfe
Per your request, I reviewed the SWST bank statements for the period May 31, 1997 through May 29, 1998. Checks, deposits, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express charges, interest charges, and bank charges were verified against the statements. The checkbook balance and the bank statements were in agreement for all months reviewed. The checkbook balance of $21,427.00 agrees with the checking account balance on the May 1998 Balance Sheet.
I also verified the account balances of the three Vanguard statements. The $65,879.91 on the May 1998 Balance Sheet agrees with the latest statements (3/31/98 year to date) received from Vanguard.
Budget and Investment Strategy - Vicki Herian
FISCAL STATUS DEC. 31, 1997
BALANCE SHEET
Total Assets $91,013.35
Total Liabilities 20,390.83
Total Equity 70,622.52
Total Equity & Liabilities $ 91,013.35
INCOME STATEMENT
1997 Budget
Total Income $111,363.00
Total Expenses $111,972.46
NET $ (-609.46)
Actual Balance
$ 100,136.50
$ 100,824.74
Net $ (-688.24)
CATEGORY
INCOME
EXPENSES
NET
Wood and Fiber Science $83,310 $58,630 $24,680 Dues $17,100 $-- $17,100 Interest & Dividend $6,400 $-- $6,400 Member Services $11,175 $23,700 (-$12,525) Symposium $28 $-- $28 Admin. Expenses $-- $12,000 (-$12,000) Salary & Taxes $-- $20,642 (-$20,642) TOTAL $118,013 $114,972 $3,041 Vanguard U.S. Growth
Beg. Bal. $22,500 (2/2/98)
End Bal. $24,648.88 (3/31/98)
Gain $ 2,148.88Vanguard Growth & Income
$23,600 (2/3/98)
$26,108.16 (3/31/98)
$ 2,508.16Vanguard Money Market Reserves
Beg. Bal. $15,000.00 (2/3/98)
End. Bal. $15,122.87 (3/31/98)
Gain $122.87
Wood and Fiber Science - Bob Youngs
Report was published in the Newsletter. Bob mentioned that he is redoing the back cover of the Journal on the instructions to authors. He will also be publishing an article on citing on-line sources. He made a request for more book reviews.
Committee Reports
Accreditation - Published in the Newsletter
Book Review - none available
Constitution and Bylaws - Published in the Newsletter. A motion was made, seconded and passed to accept the following new wording:
Article VI -- Elections - Section 10.
If the office of president-elect is vacated, the duties of the president-elect shall be performed by the vice-president, who will advance to the presidency without election at the end of the term as vice president. A president-elect and a vice-president will be elected at the next election . If the office of vice-president is vacated, it shall remain vacant until the next election, at which time both a president-elect and a vice-president will be elected.
Critical Issues - The Board discussed work that this Committee will be doing in the next few months to bring wood products to the attention of administrators.
A one-page summary of the white paper "Environmental Implications of the Use of Wood-Based Products has been prepared and will be distributed. Howard Rosen will present this information on Wednesday this week at a Plenary Session.
Education - Published in the Newsletter. Teaching Unit 2 needs to be completed. There are a number of organizations producing material at the secondary level (middle to high school). These need to be reviewed, looking for scientific validity, and also need to be compiled into a list of what's available. Cyndi West asked for information anyone has to be sent to her. Perhaps something that is already being produced could be used for Teaching Unit 2.
There is a 1999 Manners Conference the week after Easter next year (Minorities in Agricultural Natural Sciences). This conference provides information to students to advance careers via a career fair. Perhaps we could attend this fair or display at the fair. Cyndi will follow up.
International Relations - No new affiliate members applied this year. This committee needs to work on advertising this membership category and evaluate the guidelines and criteria.
Membership - Published in the Newsletter. Tom McLain has prepared a Member Handbook that will be finalized and mailed to members. It can be used in recruiting purposes and to show just what SWST is and what it can do for you.
Surveys were received and a draft summary has been prepared. This will be sent to members. Chip Frazier gave a brief overview of what the survey showed. 825 mailings were sent to current members, former members, and selected nonmembers. Respondent statistics:
--Response level 28.4%
--96% male
--24% age 41-50 years
--86% current members, 6% never a member
--61% Ph.D. , 21% M.S.
--36% academic, 30% industry, 16% retired, 11%government, 7% students
What we asked:
--Importance of current SWST services
--What new services would they like to see
--Would they approve of National Certification program in WS&T
--Wood and Fiber Science
--Demographics
Important SWST Services from Survey Responses
--Publication of Wood and Fiber Science
--Accreditation
--Newsletter
--SWST Critical Publications
Less Important SWST Services
--Distinguished Service Award
--SWST Web page
--International Visiting Scientist Award
--Annual Meeting
National Certification Question
--Inconclusive - 45% yes, 27% no, 28% ?
--By Education: Ph.D. 52 yes 52 no 35 no opinion
M.S. 26 yes 8 no 13 no opinion
B.S. 21 yes 2 no 14 no opinion
Wood & Fiber Science
--Topics interesting? 89% yes
--Informative? 91% yes
---Put Table of Contents on the Web
--Abstracts on the Web too
--No full papers on the Web
--Encourage more international contributions
Newsletter - John Phelps, University of Illinois at Carbondale, will be the new Newsletter Editor, beginning with the July-August Newsletter.
Public Liaison - Published in the Newsletter.
Publication Policy - Published in the Newsletter.
Visiting Scientist Program - Report from Joe Loferski
1. The SWST Visiting Scientist Program co-sponsored the visits of three scientists during the 1997-98 year.
--Dr. Geza Ifju of Virginia Tech visited the Institute of Wood Research (IWR) at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, on February 25-26, 1998. The objective of Dr. Ifju's visit was to present a seminar on "Wood Science Recruiting". He met with faculty, staff, and students concerned with implementing an aggressive student recruiting campaign at Michigan Tech, modeled after the successful recruiting efforts reported by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Ifju also had the opportunity to tour the facilities and to meet with the Composites, Environmental, Wood Biotechnology, and Wood Preservative research groups at the Institute of Wood Research.
--Dr. Jean Mater, Vice President of Marketing Services of Mater Engineering in Corvallis, Oregon, visited the campus of West Virginia University, April 16-19. Dr. Mater presented two seminars to faculty and students on the topics of "New Opportunities for the Forest Products Industry" and "Reinventing the Forest Products Industry". Approximately 65 and 35 people attended the seminars, respectively. During the talks, Dr. Mater challenged students who are preparing to enter careers in the forest products industry to adopt a proactive, cooperative approach to dealing with the public's concerns about the environment. She also spent time meeting with small groups of students and faculty, including a breakfast meeting with the women students enrolled in WVU's Wood Industries program. She met individually with graduate students to discuss their theses research. Her visit concluded with the WVU Student Chapter of the Forest Products Society hosting a picnic with Dr. Mater as the guest of honor on Saturday at the Westvaco Natural Resources Center on the West Virginia University Forest. In general, Dr. Mater generously shared her views and experiences in dealing with the industry, government, and the public. It was a superb learning experience for the students and faculty. Her visit was jointly sponsored by the WVU Division of Forestry, the Appalachian Hardwood Center, the WVU College of Agriculture, College of Forestry and Consumer Services, the WVU Student Chapter of the Forest Products Society, the WVU Center for Women's Studies, the Visiting Scientist Program of the SWST, and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Visiting Industrial Scientists Program.
--Professor Wolfgang Glasser of Virginia Tech visited with the Oregon State University Forest Research Lab (FRL) and the Departments of Forest Products, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering on May 20-21, 1998. During his visit, he discussed research activities and ideas with faculty and spoke with students on research and other topics, such as career development and study habits. He presented a seminar entitled "Intelligent Surfaces and Circuit Boards, the Molecular Science of New Lignocellulosic Composites." Dr. Glasser's seminar was advertised in the Department's of Forest Products, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and the Center for Advanced Materials Research. It was well attended by an interested audience, with questions continuing well beyond the allotted time. Dinner with faculty and students afterwards followed a social gathering. An informal brown bag lunch on Friday switched topics to the the future of the forest products industry and a discussion of promising lines of research, which support the industry. Interest ran high with discussions continuing past the scheduled closing time. The visit was judged a definite success by the people involved. The organizers expressed a desire to have more of these Visiting Scientist program sin the future and expressed their gratitude for the SWST funding which helped to make it possible.
2. International Travel Requests - The SWST Visiting Scientist program received one request to co-sponsor international travel by Dr. J. D. Saddler of the University of British Columbia. He requested $2,000 to partially fund a trip to New Zealand and Australia to work with the Distance Learning and Technology with New Zealand and Australian colleagues. The SWST Visiting Scientist Program Committee unanimously supported funding for this activity.
3. The President of SWST, Dr. Fred Kamke, asked the Committee to prepare a list of Department Heads or Program Coordinators for the Wood Science programs in North America. That task has been accomplished.
4. The Committee has been asked to prepare a recommendation to the Board on how to increase interest in the International Visiting Scientist Program. The Visiting Scientist Committee feels that the program is still somewhat under-advertised. However, we do support the one proposal, which was submitted this year. Because of limited funds, only a few proposals can be supported on an annual basis. The short note in the SWST Newsletter, describing the opportunities, will help develop the exposure for this under-utilized program.
Old Business - None
Teller's Report
Dave Barrett moves up to President
Tom McLain moves up to President-Elect
Ramsay Smith was elected as the new Vice President
Doug Gardner and Paul Smith were elected as the new Directors.
138 ballots were returned.
New Business
--Dave thanked the board members and committee members going off for this year, and welcomed the new members.
--The survey will be summarized and mailed to members.
--Dave would like to see SWST move from "crisis" to "opportunity". There is a demand for professionals in the growing wood field and SWST could supply these people. We can create a win/win situation for industry and ourselves.
--Dave encouraged all members to sign up for committees and especially encouraged students to participate in SWST. He also reminded people to take advantage of the International Visiting Scientist program.
--Dave announced that the Board approved $2000 to be spent next year toward student participation in the Student Poster Competition.
A motion was made, seconded and passed to adjourn at 1:00 p.m.
1:00 - 4:00 Joint SWST/FPS Plenary Sessions
Session 1: Forest Fiber Biology, Its Control with Silviculture and the Effects
on Wood-Based Products (Merida I)
Session 2: Predictive Techniques for Characterizing the Structural Performance of
Fiber-Based Composites (Merida II and III)
Session 3: Using Knowledge of Wood Physics to Improve Wood Drying
(Valladolid room)
4:00 - 5:30 Joint SWST/FPS Technical Forum and Student Posters
(Student poster competition held June 20, 1998) (Yucatan IV Room)
Last updated: 4/20/99
For further information, please contact
Vicki Herian at vicki@swst.org
