The life of a railroad crosstie sees nearly 20 years of service. Through harsh conditions such as rain, heat, and snow, the backbone of the rails is built to last. But just how long should they carry the load?
Researchers from the Forest and Wildlife Research Center and the Railway Tie Association have set out to determine how durable railroad ties are by exposing them to different conditions and preservatives.
Dr. Beth Stokes, a...
By day, Adam Wade is finding better ways to identify wood species using artificial intelligence as a sustainable bioproducts doctoral student. At night, he's crafting a custom guitar out of poplar and maple.
"The guitar design I'm working on replicates a Fender Stratocaster. I'm making everything from scratch using rough-sawn lumber. The guitar's body is made of poplar with a soft maple top. The neck and fretboard are hard maple. I'm usi...
Fossil fuels are decayed plants and animals that have been converted to oil, coal, and natural gas through years of exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust. Petroleum, a common fossil fuel, is used to create over 6,000 different products.
There are issues related to the extended use of petroleum including environmental pollution and global warming. Add to this the diminishing reserves of fossil fuels. So, how do we replace t...
Wood pellets are big business as an export item. Europe consumes much of the U.S. wood pellet market to generate energy according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. In fact, in 2018, the combined value of sales from the U.S. exports of wood pellets totaled $812 million or 6.04 million metric tons with transfers to the U.K. topping $646 million or 4.71 million metric tons. Since much of the pellet production in the U.S. comes from southe...
A new building material is making its way into the U.S. market. Cross-laminated timber, or CLT, which has been used to construct large buildings in Europe for the last two decades is experiencing growth as a building material in the U.S. and Canada.
"As of March 2019, there are currently 545 buildings in North America either built or in the design phase using mass timber products such as CLT," said Dr. Beth Stokes, scientist in the Fores...
Mississippi State is now home to one of the nation's largest wood collections, making the university a prime training ground for research on rare and exotic species.
MSU's Department of Sustainable Bioproducts in the College of Forest Resources has acquired the 32,000-specimen David A. Kribs wood collection, the fourth largest in the U.S. according to the International Association of Wood Anatomists. This acquisition also makes MSU home ...
Oftentimes, we'll take the stairs to get in those few extra steps. As we climb toward better health, do we consider how much strength lies in the wood beneath our feet? While we may not think twice about the actual steps we take, there are others who do. The Stairbuilders and Manufacturers Association has partnered with scientists in the MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center to assess the wood commonly used in constructing stairs.
Dr...
It is estimated that the average single-family home in the U.S. includes 16,000 board feet of lumber for framing. Architects and engineers select grades and sizes of lumber for various components in construction of housing and buildings based on design values.
In 2013, afer several years of testing and reassessment, the design values for southern pine dimension lumber were adjusted. This change impacted the utility value of several lumbe...
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has identified the wood products industry as an essential critical infrastructure workforce.
Mississippi State has the only research program in the state dedicated to expanding the service and use of wood products, delivering research to the state's forest industry. While the way the research is being conducted may have shifted temporarily, researchers are leaning i...
Timber is a multibillion dollar industry. Forestry is the number two leading commodity in the state of Mississippi generating nearly $1.2 billion in timber harvesting last year alone. Scientists in the Forest and Wildlife Research Center have completed a five year study to help increase the value of southern forests.
"Wood is the most important source of housing in the U.S. and the U.S. South is the most viable and sustainable, and la...
How often, as you wander across your hardwood floor to set your mug down on the oak coffee table, do you stop to think about the wood products you use every day? Wood products exist all around us. We work at wooden desks, write notes on paper, and have homes made and furnished with wood.
Kassandra Stout, a sustainable bioproducts graduate student, explores these questions with her research project on "Attitudes and Perceptions of the M...
Determining the stiffest piece of lumber is now easier with a new smartphone app created by scientists in Mississippi State University's Forest and Wildlife Research Center.
Called "Smart Thumper," the app uses soundwaves or vibrations to determine stiffness, a quality that relates to strength, for individual pieces of lumber.
Developer Dan Seale, professor in MSU's Department of Sustainable Bioproducts, said it will hel...
Longtime faculty member Dan Seale is the inaugural James R. Moreton Endowed Fellow in the College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State University.
The James R. Moreton Fellow in Sustainable Bioproducts was established through a gift from James Reginald Moreton, a 1956 mechanical engineering alumnus. After a career in banking as founder and CEO of First Federal Savings and Loan, Moreton moved into the industrial access mat busines...
Mississippi State University's Wood Magic Science Fair will be in Jackson to participate in the second annual Mississippi Science Fest later this month.
MSU Wood Magic will be an attraction at the Sept. 23 STEM-themed festival, focused on delivering a hands-on experience for children and families that sparks curiosity in various STEM-related fields.
The Mississippi Science Fest is a partnership between the Mississippi Agric...
Mississippi State University's Franklin Furniture Institute is reaffirming its strong commitment to the state's furniture manufacturing industry by continuing to provide testing and research while broadening its focus to enhance innovation and technology.
MSU vice president for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry, and Veterinary Medicine Gregory A. Bohach said "The university and MSU's Franklin Furniture Institute remain dedicated to t...
Forest products are part of the DNA of Mississippi.
That is how Gov. Phil Bryant welcomed participants Monday [June 26] to the 71st International Convention of the Forest Products Society, hosted by Mississippi State University's College of Forest Resources and Forest and Wildlife Research Center.
Bryant, whose grandfather once harvested timber by mule in south Mississippi, made the connection that all Mississippians have been ...
A new $44,900 grant from the Furniture Foundation will facilitate training of front-line furniture supervisors by Mississippi State University personnel.
Four supervisory management training programs will be offered by the university's Franklin Furniture Institute at manufacturing locations throughout the state between August and July 2018. The Furniture Foundation, a research and education fund administered by the American Home Furn...
Mississippi State University's 7th Annual Manufacturing Summit showcased ways teamwork can help keep Mississippi and the U.S. competitive in the manufacturing industry in the 21st century.
The event was hosted by MSU's Frankl...
Mississippi State President Mark E. Keenum (standing) discusses the university's role in the Furniture Academy during a press conference in Tupelo Thursday morning [Jan. 12].
The new manufacturing skills certification program is a partnership between MSU's Franklin Furniture Institute, Itawamba Community College, Northeast Mississippi Community College, the Community Development Foundation, Three Rivers Planning and Development Distr...
A Mississippi State University reshoring summit Aug. 11 aims to help businesses profitably bring manufacturing jobs back home to the U.S.
The Make it in America Summit takes place at the university's Franklin Furniture Institute, located on campus at the intersection of Blackjack Road and Locksley Way.
The program is designed for manufacturers and their supply chains, economic developers and relevant university employees an...
South Mississippi students will learn details about daily wood use when they visit the Mississippi State University Wood Magic Science Fair on March 31.
MSU Wood Magic will be an attraction at the Crosby Arboretum’s Wildlife Day, a one-day event that draws 200 to 300 participants annually.
Students from kindergarten to the eighth grade will learn all about the significance of wood in their lives. Teachers will receive resou...
Mississippi is winning.
That's how Glenn McCullough, executive director for the Mississippi Development Authority, characterized the state's recent economic development strides in a keynote address for the sixth annual Manufacturing Summit, which Mississippi State University's Franklin Furniture Institute hosted Wednesday [March 16].
Touting Mississippi's top 10 national ranking in manufacturing, specifically its footprint ...
The Mississippi Development Authority's executive director will be featured speaker March 16 for the sixth annual Manufacturing Summit at Mississippi State.
Glenn McCullough Jr. was appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant last year to head the state's lead agency for economic and community development. An agricultural economics graduate of the university, he is a Tupelo native and former mayor of Northeast Mississippi's largest city.
...
When he walks into a hardware store and starts looking at lumber, he could be your average do-it-yourselfer, ready to start a project.
But Dan Seale, a sustainable bioproducts professor in the Mississippi State University Forest and Wildlife Research Center, is no ordinary weekend warrior building a little something for the house.
Seale is on a cross-country mission, looking for lumber from the Southern pine region cut from dozen...
Dr. Rubin Shmulsky greatly enjoys his job leading the Department of Sustainable Bioproducts in the College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State University. Every day he has an opportunity to appreciate the role of trees as one of nature's greatest gifts, and to wisely utilize that gift for societal benefits.
Professor Shmulsky and his colleagues are taking timber research to a new level and positively impacting the world's ...
When Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant spoke at Mississippi State University's 2015 Manufacturing Summit on Wednesday [March 18], he emphasized the Magnolia State is fostering a positive environment for manufacturers.
"We are competing with the fastest growing states in manufacturing," Bryant said. "We already have almost 40,000 working in the manufacturing industry, but what if we had 80,000? It's possible."
The state's manufac...
With Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant offering the keynote address, manufacturing, logistics and transportation leaders will "Focus on the Future" at the fifth annual Manufacturing Summit.
The March 18 program, held by Mississippi State University and American Home Furnishings Alliance, will be held on campus at the Franklin Center, 8 a.m....
Beginning March 24, Mississippi State University experts will offer a course designed to help potential business owners plan for success.
The nine-week Kauffman FastTrac NewVenture program will be held Tuesday evenings from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the university's Franklin Furniture Institute.
The FastTrac NewVenture course, design...
Mississippi furniture manufacturers will have an opportunity to meet with retailers and representatives of furniture associations from China at the Tupelo Furniture Spring 2015 Market according to coordinators at Mississippi State's Franklin Furniture Institute.
As China's demand for American-made upholstered furniture has increased, c...
Mississippi State University scientists strive to establish sustainable best practices in the application of slack wax for the wood composites industry.
Slack wax is a waterproofing agent used in the production of composites, including particle board, oriented strand board, fiberboard and laminated strained lumber. The wax improves the...
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