Department of Wood Science
Welcome to the Department of Wood Science at the Faculty of Forestry, UBC. We encourage you to go through our website to learn more about our undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, and extension activities. We invite your comments, suggestions, or questions on any facet of wood science or on our programs and offerings. Please feel free to contact me at any time at stavros.avramidis@ubc.ca or +1 (604) 822-6153. – Dr. Stavros Avramidis, Head.
About the Department

The Department of Wood Science is one of three departments within the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia that plays a critical role in education of the next generation of leaders for Canada’s forest industry and communities. Our mission mandate also includes research in developing innovative bioproducts, supply chains, and technology for the sustainable production of low-carbon intensity materials for society. These items include timber framed tall wooden buildings, biobased nanomaterials for energy storage, and robotically machined paneling for architecture design.
Facilities
Research laboratories and state-of-the art research equipment are at the disposal of our faculty and students for research in all areas of wood & fiber science and technology. The following are established labs within the Department:
- Advanced Carbohydrate Chemistry Lab (Jiang)
- Advanced Renewable Materials Lab (Renneckar)
- Africa Forests Research Initiative on Conservation and Development (AFRICAD)
- Biobased Nanomaterials Lab (Cranston)
- Business, Sustainability and Technology Lab (van der Ven)
- Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP)
- Forests and Communities in Transition(FACT)
- Forest Products Biotechnology Lab(Saddler)
- Furniture Design & Secondary Manufacturing Lab (Fuerst, Leung)
- Industrial Ecology Lab
- Industrial Engineering Research Lab (Sowlati)
- Wood and Fiber Quality Lab(Mansfield)
- Wood Anatomy, Ultrastructure & Microscopy Lab (Ellis)
- Wood Adhesives & Composites Lab (Smith)
- Wood Building Design & Construction Lab (Lam, Loss)
- Wood Finishing Lab (Evans)
- Wood Mechanics and Timber Engineering Lab (Lam, Loss)
- Wood Physics & Drying Lab(Avramidis)
- Wood Preservation & Protection Lab (Evans)
- Wood Sawmilling & Optimization Lab (Cool)
- Wood Surface Science Lab (Evans)
Our professors also collaborate with FP Innovations. (Wood Products Research Institute of Canada), the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (PAPRICAN) and many other UBC Departments and Centres.
Furthermore, there is a considerable amount of collaborative research between our faculty members and researchers across the USA, EU, Pacific Rim countries, South America and Africa.