The Department of Sustainable Biomaterials hosted a national meeting of the department heads or their representatives from 11 undergraduate degree programs in the U.S. in May. These individuals (pictured) represent all of the major undergraduate programs in wood science or sustainable biomaterials: Auburn, Idaho, Maine, Michigan Tech, Minnesota, Mississippi State, NC State, Oregon State, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia (Auburn and Michigan Tech are restarting programs). The purpose of the meeting was to better understand the changes that have occurred in the respective programs and collectively discuss the opportunities and challenges for traditional wood science/biomaterials programs as we move forward.

Wood science education officially began around World War II, with increased demand for housing in the United States and a growing forest products industry. Most programs grew out of traditional forestry programs, focusing on the science after a tree is harvested. In recent years, the majority of programs have re-evaluated themselves and made adjustments to better reflect their research efforts and be more relevant to a changing student demographic but remain loyal to the needs of the forest products and biomaterials industries. Nearly all traditional wood science programs in the U.S. have changed their names to better reflect their mission on sustainable utilization of wood and other biomass. Others have added new degree programs such as packaging and mass timber construction. Ultimately, our wood science programs have to be relevant to students, our industry partners, and the university where the programs are located.

Each university representative provided an overview of their program, recent changes that have occurred, and the opportunities and challenges they are facing. A facilitated discussion followed, identifying important items that the group could work on collectively to help shape our future. Key challenges identified included the branding of programs, low enrollment, low identity among high school students, low institutional support, a changing industry, a changing student, and the marketing of our programs. From these challenges, the group identified a number of opportunities that we could work on together. They included create a national message, better marketing of our programs/ discipline, increased collaboration among all stakeholders, continued collaboration among these programs, and capturing the value of forests (carbon, climate, water) in wood science.

Meeting photo