Nicole Brown, of University Park, Pa., a 2003 Ph.D. graduate in Virginia Tech’s Department of Wood Science and Forest Products, received the Wood Award for outstanding graduate student research presented by the Forest Product Society at its recent annual meeting.

Brown’s graduate research looked at wood adhesives’ resistance to moisture, in particular N-methylolacrylamide (NMA) and where NMA is located in latex adhesives and if that location affects adhesive performance. Brown is now an assistant professor of wood chemistry at Penn State University.

Brown also received her bachelor’s 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.

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