Wood Products Engineering
B.S.

• Starting with the fall 2008 semester, a new concentration area in Sustainable Construction and Renewable Materials will be available for students interested in wood product utilization.
• The Wood Products Engineering program is accredited by the Society of Wood Science and Technology.

Wood is the premier material for manufacturing, building and construction. It is renewable, and produced from a sustainable natural resource. Wood is strong, lightweight, economical, long lasting and attractive, and is made into countless products desired by society. Our graduates contribute to and are employed by the industries that manufacture such high-value wood products as hardwood lumber and furniture, efficient and economical building materials such as soft-wood lumber, plywood and engineered composite materials, and industrial materials such as treated poles, piling and timbers. Our graduates also contribute and are employed by the related lumber and building material merchandising and distribution industries.

The program provides a broad education, encompassing study of the anatomical, physical, and mechanical properties of wood. Students learn to apply basic and engineering sciences to the broad spectrum of products made from wood and its derivatives.  Field trips to local wood products industries such as Gutchess Lumber, Stickley Furniture, Gunlocke Furniture, Harden, B&B Lumber, and many others supplement our department laboratory experience.  Most activities are directed toward the forest products industry of New York, but the Wood Products Engineering program has a long tradition of national and international service.

Essential knowledge for all wood products engineering graduates:

1. Identification, properties, and uses of wood
2. Classification of tree species; relations between species and general of important North American timber species, including growth ranges
3. Wood-moisture relationships
4. Wood biology: anatomy and decay
5. Wood protection
6. Production of solid wood and composite products
7. Wood mechanics and design of wood structural elements
8. Marketing of wood products
9. Use of wood in construction and other engineered applications such as furniture

Elective concentration area details:

Marketing and Production: Students selecting the marketing and production concentration prepare themselves for careers in a wide variety of manufacturing operations, ranging from primary lumber, plywood panel, engineered composites, or particleboard mills to secondary production operations such as the manufacture of millwork or furniture; or they enter the wholesale or retail marketing and sales fields, dealing with forest products and/or other building materials. Others work for suppliers to the forest products industry, marketing products such as paints, coatings or adhesives, or work for machine manufacturers. Concentration courses to provide skills listed below include business classes from the Syracuse University School of Management. Essential knowledge for marketing and production concentration graduates:

1. The importance of forest products in the national and international marketplace
2. The role of marketing in the distribution of goods
3. Physical, mechanical and other characteristics and properties of wood which affect design and performance of products in use
4. Production scheduling and wood manufacturing operations
5. Operations management
6. Personnel and labor relations. 

Sustainable Construction and Renewable Materials: Students who choose the concentration in Sustainable Construction and Renewable Materials are preparing themselves for careers that encompass the use of green building materials, including solid wood products, engineered wood products and the environmental impact of such use.

Essential knowledge for sustainable construction and renewable materials includes:

1. Physical and mechanical properties of sustainable materials
2. Trends in construction related to the use of renewable wood products and other sustainable building materials
3. Production of solid wood and wood-based composite products in relation to their use in sustainable construction
4. Environmental impact of wood and other materials used in construction

Wood Science: Students in the wood science concentration take courses dealing with the biological aspects of wood (e.g., anatomy, tree growth-wood quality relations, effects of decay) and the physical characteristics of the material (e.g., physical properties, mechanical and engineering properties, the physics of preservation or seasoning).

Some wood science students are preparing for graduate school and eventually enter a career in research, such as in a private or government research laboratory, or with a trade association or service organization. Others find rewarding and challenging careers in teaching or industrial settings.

Essential knowledge for wood science concentration graduates:

1. Relations between tree growth and wood properties
2. Wood-water relationships; the effects of moisture on the properties of wood
3. Decay processes
4. Evaluation and analysis of the physical and mechanical properties of wood

Students may enter the bachelor of science program as first-year students or as transfer students. Students who are preparing to transfer to ESF as juniors must have earned at least 62 credits of college course-work, in courses comparable to the lower-division course requirements.  A total of 126 credit hours is required for graduation.

For complete coverage of the major, including a listing of Undergraduate Program Requirements, please refer to the ESF College Catalog.