Wood products professor awarded grant from U.S. Department of Energy
Chip Frazier, of Blacksburg, wood science and forest products professor in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech, has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for new adhesive technology to reduce energy consumption in the forest products industry.
Frazier’s research effort in collaboration with Trus Joist-A Weyerhaeuser Business, National Starch and Chemical, and Virginia Tech, is directed toward the development of novel cold-setting adhesive for the manufacture of laminated veneer lumber (LVL). LVL is commonly used in home construction. "The adhesive will cure at room temperature, which means that the typical high temperature hot-pressing will be eliminated," Frazier said. The elimination of hot-pressing and the reduction in veneer drying will provide substantial energy savings and also decrease emissions.
Frazier works in the area of adhesion and polymer science with an emphasis on wood-based composite materials. He is active in the Wood-Based Composites Center, the Sustainable Engineered Materials Institute (SEMI), the Center for Adhesive and Sealant Science, and the Polymer Materials and Interfaces Laboratory. He also received his bachelor’s and his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.
The College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top five programs of its kind in the nation. Faculty members stress both the technical and human elements of natural resources and instill in students a sense of stewardship and land-use ethics. Areas of studies include environmental resource management, fisheries and wildlife sciences, forestry, geospatial and environmental analysis, natural resource recreation, urban forestry, wood science and forest products, geography, and international development.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.
