ORONO – Douglas Gardner, a University of Maine professor of wood science and technology and a member of the UMaine Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center’s research team, has been named as one of the co-recipients of the 2008 Forest Products Society L.J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Research Award for the paper “Evaluation of Load Transfer in the Cellulosic-Fiber/Polymer Interphase Using a Micro-Raman Tensile Test.”

The paper was published in January 2007 in the journal Wood and Fiber Science published by the Society of Wood Science and Technology.

The award was presented at the Forest Products Society 62nd international convention June 22-24 in St. Louis. Co-authors of the article include: William Tze, a former UM grad student currently on the faculty of the University of Minnesota; Shane O’Neill, a former AEWC Center staff member; Carl Tripp, a UM chemistry professor; and Stephen Shaler, associate director of the AEWC Center.

The L.J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Award is intended to encourage research and promote knowledge of wood in the engineering field as a means of enhancing the efficient utilization of wood. The award is presented annually to the author or authors of a technical paper that is judged to be the most outstanding research paper in the field of wood as an engineering material.