Prof. Dr. Douglas J. GARDNER

University of Maine

Prof. Dr. Jinzhen CAO

Beijing Forestry University

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Andreja KUTNAR

University of Primorska

Assist. Prof. Dr. Jakub SANDAK

University of Primorska / Trees and Timber Institute of Italian National Research Council

Speech Topic:   Lignocellulosic-Filled Polymer Feedstocks for Large Scale Additive Manufacturing of Low Cost Composites

Prof. Dr. Douglas J. GARDNER

Douglas J. Gardner is Professor and Program Leader of Forest Operations, Bioproducts & Bioenergy in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine. He is also member of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and Forest Bioproducts Research Institute.  Gardner’s research, teaching, and service activities focus on polymer and interfacial science aspects of wood-polymer composite materials.  He is also involved in research in the areas of adhesion and surface science, cellulose nanocomposites and extruded wood plastic composites.  He has co-authored over 200 technical publications and 135 research presentations, and 5 patents.

Gardner is a Fellow and Past-President of the Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST). He is also a member of the American Chemical Society, and Society of Plastic Engineers.  Doug serves on the editorial advisory board of Reviews of Adhesion and Adhesives. He has been recognized for his work by receiving the 1992 Cahn Award, and the 2004-2005 and 2011-2012 G. Peirce and Florence Pitts Weber Outstanding Researcher in Forest Resources Award, the 2007 Director’s Outstanding Faculty Award at the AEWC Center, University of Maine, 2008 Forest Products Society L. J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Award, and 2010 2nd Place, 2012 3rd Place, and 2013 Honorable Mention, George Marra Award of Excellence. He was awarded the SWST Distinguished Service Award in 2014. He appeared in Strathmore’s Who’s Who 2007-2008. In December 2005 he was a visiting lecturer at Beijing Forestry University, and in June 2006 was a visiting lecturer at BOKU, Vienna, Austria and in March 2015 was a visiting lecturer at the Slovak Technical University in Zvolen, Slovakia. He was made an Honorary Member of the Union of Wood Processing Manufacturers of the Slovak Republic in 2000.

Doug has a BS degree in Forestry (1980) and Certificate of Advanced Study in Pulp and Paper Management (1981) from the University of Maine, and a PhD degree from Mississippi State University (1985).

Speech Topic:   Will be announced…

Prof. Dr. Jinzhen Cao

Department of Wood Science and Technology Beijing Forestry University

Haidian, Beijing, China 100083

Executive Council member of IRG/WP (International Research Group on Wood Protection) 2010-2013 Committee member of Chinese Association of Wood Science

Committee member of Chinese Association of Wood Industries Vice-chair of the Chinese Wood Protection Research Association

Research Interests:

Wood Protection and Modification

development of new preservative systems, especially microemulsions

fixation of copper-based and boron-based wood preservative systems in wood

wood modification: thermal, resin, nanoclay, chemical

water repellents used for wood and wood-based composites

Wood Physics

wood-water relations

viscoelastic properties of wood (including mechano-sorptive creep and stress relaxation)

dielectric properties of wood

compressed wood and fixation of compression

Wood-Based Composites

Protecting chemicals used for wood-based composites;

wood-polymer composites.

Teaching Courses：

Wood Science (for undergraduate students)

Wood Preservation and Modification (for both undergraduate and graduate students)

Wood Processing and Utilization (for foreign graduate students)

Awards:

2003 National Excellent Doctoral Thesis Award (issued by the State Council of China)

2004 New Century Talents in China (issued by the Education Bureau of China)

2006 Science and Technology Award for Youth in Forestry Area (issued by the Department of Forestry, China)

2014 National Excellent Teacher Award (issued by the State Council of China)

Peer-reviewed Publications:

Published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers as first author or corresponding author.

Speech Topic:   Wood use for healthy built environments

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Andreja KUTNAR

Dr Andreja Kutnar is Associate Professor in the field "wood science" at University of Primorska, Slovenia and director of the InnoRenew CoE Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation centre of excellence. She is Executive Board member of international organization InnovaWood and a director on the board of the Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST)

In 2014 she co-authored a book "Contemporary Slovenian Timber Architecture for Sustainability" published by Springer International Publishing AG in a Series Green Energy and Technology. Furthermore, in 2016 dr. Andreja Kutnar co-edited a scientific book "Environmental Impacts of Traditional and Innovative Forest-based Bioproducts" published by Springer International Publishing AG in a Series Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes.

She is coordinating H2020 Teaming project Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation centre of excellence (InnoRenew CoE). Furthermore, she is chair of COST Action FP1407 "Understanding wood modification through an integrated scientific and environmental impact approach (ModWoodLife).

In 2016 she received recognition of "Prometheus of Science for excellence in communication" for a successful multi-level communication in wood sciences and supporting the enforcement of the sustainable development paradigm.

Speech Topic:   Non-destructive evaluation of wood and wood-based materials: state-of-the-art and future perspectives

Assist. Prof. Dr. Jakub SANDAK

Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Sciences from Tottori University (Japan), master of Science in Natural Resources Process Engineering from Shimane University (Japan), engineer of Wood Science and Technology from University of Life Sciences in Poznan (Poland). Carpenter from a third generation, currently researcher at InnoRenew Centre of Excellence, assistant professor and research associate at the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Science and Information Technology at University of Primorska and researcher at Trees and Timber Institute of Italian National Research Council. Jakub SANDAK is an active member of several COST actions, including E35, E40, FP0904, FP1006, FP1101, FP1303, FP1407, CA16226, CA16215. He is a part of the International Wood Machining Seminar International Advisory Committee, and member of Editorial Boards for Drvna Industrija as well as European Journal of Wood and Wood Products.

Research interests includes: multi-sensor evaluation of wood properties, expert systems dedicated for wood machining process control and monitoring, organization of manufacturing processes in furniture industries, vision systems in the wood industry, characterization of the wood surface, physics of the wood cutting, wood mechanics and fracture, spectroscopy and chemometry, hyperspectral imaging, numerical modelling of wood at different scales, mechatronics. His passion is designing, assembling, testing and implementing prototype scientific instrumentation.

Other keynote speakers will be announced soon ...