SMART 2025 - Emerging Engineered Wood for Buildings

2: 45 PM Yale Campus Tour (Recommended, Optional)

Yale Visitor Center (149 Elm Street, New Haven)

6:00 PM Welcome Reception & Registration 

Greenberg Conference Center (391 Prospect Street, New Haven)

8:00 AM Coffee & Networking

9:00 AM Openning Remarks

Liangbing Hu, Yale University

Session 1 - Climate and CO₂

9:15 AM Carbon, The Flow of Life

Paul Hawken

Session 2- Engineered Wood Materials and Processes (Part 1), Chair: Soydan Ozcan

9:40 AM Wood Binding Wood: Opportunities for Cellulose Nanomaterials in Composite Technology

Mehdi Tajvidi, University of Maine

10:00 AM Durability Testing of Wood Materials: Laboratory and Field Approaches Across Diverse Climates

Xinfeng Xie, Michigan Technological University

10:40 Self-flow Lumber Treatment Technology

Sheldon Shi, University of North Texas

11:00 AM Nano-Engineered Wood

Liangbing Hu, Yale University

11:20 AM Group Photo

12:00 PM Lunch

Session 2- Engineered Wood Materials and Processes (Part 2), Chair: Mehdi Tajvidi

1:00 PM Innovative Cellular Manufacturing Through Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing with Bio-Based Composites for Specialized Production

Soydan Ozcan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

1:20 PM Extending the Service Life of Engineered Wood Products

Juan Zhang, Koppers Performance Chemicals

1:40 Genome-edited Trees for high-Performance Engineered Wood

Gen Li, University of Maryland

2:00 PM Living Wood

Tian Li, Purdue University

2:20 PM Conducting Lab Stranding Research Support for New Product Development in the Engineered Wood Market

Lorne Fardy, Kadant Carmanah Design

2:40 PM Advancing Wood Technologies Through the Lens of Colloidal Science

Orlando Rojas, University of British Columbia 

3:00 PM Break

Session 3 - AI in Engineered Wood R&D, Chair: Lorne Fardy

3:20 PM Collective Intelligence and Mediated Agency: Architecture, AI, and Autonomous Algorithms

Philip Bernstein, Yale University

3:40 PM Hybrid Mass Timber Structures with Superwood Components

Yufeng Zhang, University of Maryland

4:00 PM From Centralized to Federated Physics-Informed Deep Learning: Accuracy, Scalability and Reliability

Lu Lu, Yale University

4:20 PM Advancing Fire Safety in Tall Mass-Timber Buildings: Unlocking the Potential of Mass-Timber Products for Climate-Friendly Construction 

Shuna Ni, University of Maryland

4:40 PM Closing Rmarks

6:00 PM Dinner

Chef Jiang (67 Whitney Ave, New Haven)

8:00 AM Coffee & Networking

9:00 AM Yale Engineering Dean’s Welcome

Jeffrey F. Brock, Yale University

Session 4 - Advanced Properties of Engineered Wood, Chair: Alan Organschi

9:15 AM Engineered Wood with Multiple Functions for Load-bearing Applications

Lars Berglund, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

9:35 AM The Interaction Between Water and Cellulose-Rich Materials 

Lars Wagberg, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

9:55 AM Unconventional Fatigue Failure of Densified Wood

Teng Li, University of Maryland

10:15 AM Engineered Wood for Automotive Applications: Opportunities and Challenges 

Alan Luo, Ohio State University

10:35 AM The Molecular Origin of Moisture Sensitivity of Wood

Yoshiharu Nishiyama, CEERMAV-CNRS

10:55 AM Break

Session 5 - Use of Engineered Wood (Part I), Chair: Lars Wagberg

11:10 AM SuperWood for Sustainable Built Environment 

Jiaqi Dai, InventWood

11:30 AM Current Research on the Hygrothermal and Energy Performance of Cross-Laminated Timber and Wood Fiber Insulation Building 

Ling Li, University of Maine

11:50 AM Engineering Mass Timber: Buildings and Bridges (zoom)

Douglas Rammer

12:10 Engineering Mass Timbe for Sustainability: A Case Study of the Scent (zoom)

Marco Lo Ricco

12:30 Lunch

Session 5 - Use of Engineered Wood (Part II), Chair: Yuan Yao 

1:30 PM Closing the Loop: Transforming Forest By-products into Complex Geometries for Living Building Systems

Anna Dyson, Yale University

1:50 PM Reading the Signals from the Forest

Alan Organschi, Yale University 

2:10 PM The NExt Big Thing? Reflections from the NHERI TallWood Project

Shiling Pei, Colorado School of Mines

2:30 PM Building Resilience with Timber: Sustainable Material Strategies for Modern Construction 

Weichiang Pang, Clemson University

2:50 PM AI-Powered Smart Fiber Optic Sensors for Structural Monitoring 

Yi Bao, Stevens Institute of Technology 

3:10 PM Predictive Design of Sustainable Biobased Packaging via Machine Intelligence for Improved Postharvest Preservation

Po-Yen Chen, University of Maryland 

3:30 Break

Session 6 - Life-Cycle Analysis and Forectry Management, Chair: Orlando Rojas

3:45 PM Wood as Modern-Day Resource for Energy and Material: Conflicts and Syneries with other Forest Values

Mark Ashton, Yale University 

4:05 PM Life Cycle Systems Modeling for Sustainable Wood Utilization from Local to Global 

Yuan Yao, Yale University

4:30 PM Closing Remarks & Next Summit Announcement 

Liangbing Hu, Yale University

Orlando Rojas, University of British Columbia 

Aug 22-23, Helsinki, Finland

The third annual conference aims to provide a forum for fundamental and applied research in sustainable materials and various aspects of these materials including: Structures and characterizations; Properties; Processing and manufacturing; Applications and Sustainability assessment.

Ecological thinking is strongly present in everyday life in Helsinki, and the city places great emphasis on encouraging environmentally-friendly lifestyles. An atmosphere that motivates less consumption, construction efforts that consider sustainable development, and ambitious climate aims make Helsinki a model city of sustainable development.

Learn more at SMART 2024 website.

Aug 7-9, Vancouver Canada

Sustainability is a grand challenge that humanity must strive to address in the years ahead. Disruptive innovations in materials science hold the key to enable a list of critical technologies that could support sustainable development in different areas such as water, energy, food, and plastics. 

In response to this call, a group of prominent scientists coming from various research institutions in North America, UK, continental Europe and Asia work together creating a platform coined ‘Sustainable Materials Research Summit (SMART)’ to foster knowledge sharing and academic excellence in the field. 

Learn more at SMART 2022 website.