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Scholarship endowment honors longtime Forest Biomaterials professor Peter Hart
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Department of Forest Biomaterials

Jul 3, 2025

Forest Biomaterials Researchers Developing Sustainable Alternative to Plastic Foam Packaging

The fiber-based material, which is fully recyclable and biodegradable, could someday replace plastic foam materials used in cushioning and insulation for packaging.

Jun 11, 2025

Alumni Donors Help Paper Science Students See the World

Adam Elhammoumi and Jesseeca “Jess” Nguyen, both 2015 alumni, have established an endowment to expand access to study abroad opportunities for students in the Paper Science and Engineering program.
NC State's Memorial Belltower stands in front of a clear summer sky.

May 22, 2025

Chancellor’s Innovation Fund Backs Six Budding Inventions

This year’s CIF awardees are exploring how to ensure endpoint cybersecurity in the era of quantum computing; make veterinary eye surgeries safer; replace plastic foam with a biodegradable alternative; help farmers grow more crops with less fertilizer; and enhance a cutting-edge gene-editing technique that uses electrical pulses to deliver DNA into cells.
A woman wearing a white lab coat peers into a microscope.

May 7, 2025

Forest Biomaterials Professor Nathalie Lavoine Wins NSF CAREER Award

Lavoine will use the five-year, nearly $750,000 grant to advance her research on cellulose nanocrystals for the creation of sustainable colors and materials for various products.
Female student wearing a red NC State polo shirt pours waste into a receptacle.

Mar 21, 2025

Campus Sustainability in Action: Recycling 3D Printing Waste

In the sustainable materials and technology (SMT) program, students develop hands-on skills to tackle environmental challenges, including waste reduction and material reuse. One critical focus is recycling thermoplastics, which are plastics that can be melted and remolded into new products—offering a sustainable alternative to traditional disposal methods.
Jingxin Wang

Sep 30, 2024

Jingxin Wang named Reuben B. Robertson Professor

Wang has served as professor and head of the Department of Forest Biomaterials since January 2024. He has more than 20 years of experience in teaching, research and outreach.
Sunkyu Park holds a bottle of biocrude.

Jul 19, 2024

Sunkyu Park named Jordan Family Distinguished Professor

As the newest Jordan Family Distinguished Professor, Park will lead the development of lignin-based products to decarbonize the pulp and paper industry. 
The “WolfPack Baby” Pilot Plant Paper Machine, a small-scale paper machine, painted in red and grey with a series of large rollers in the background. In the right foreground, there is a large metal frame holding a metal roller. A caution sign in red and white on a white background reading DANGER: HOT is stuck to the side.

Jun 26, 2024

BETTER Project: Global partnership advancing paper making at NC State and beyond

The Department of Forest Biomaterials, in partnership with Aalto University, Valmet, and Tapio Measurement Technologies, is excited to announce the successful completion of the initial stages of the BETTER experiment at the “WolfPack Baby” Pilot Plant Paper Machine.
Red flowers bloom in front of the Memorial Belltower.

May 3, 2024

Scholarship endowment honors longtime Forest Biomaterials professor Peter Hart

WestRock has partnered with the College of Natural Resources to celebrate the legacy of Peter Hart, an adjunct associate professor of forest biomaterials at NC State for the last two decades.