Adam Taylor to Study Connections Between Forests, Forest Products and Climate Change
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – University of Tennessee forestry professor Adam Taylor has been awarded a Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Grant in Health and Environmental Sciences. Taylor will spend much of 2023 at the University of Eastern Finland European Forest Institute in Joensuu researching the carbon connections between forests and forest products and climate change.
The Fulbright Finland Foundation, University of Eastern Finland, and the Saastamoinen Foundation offer a unique opportunity for international academic collaboration in Health and Environmental Sciences, including forestry science. Specifically, Taylor plans to research how forest management and decisions about forest product manufacturing and utilization can help mitigate climate change.
“Forests store carbon and harvesting trees reduces the carbon inventory – at least for a while,” says Taylor. However, the wood products expert adds, “Wood products also store carbon and, perhaps more importantly, provide alternatives to fossil carbon-intensive materials such as concrete and steel. I will be looking at the holistic carbon impacts of growing forests, harvesting trees and using wood.”
Taylor holds a Ph.D. in wood science from Oregon State University and teaches a number of advanced courses in wood science while also managing the Forest Product Extension Program for the UT Institute of Agriculture Center for Renewable Carbon. That work includes on-site consultations, workshops and collaborative research activities. He is author or co-author of many publications including the Statistical Process Control Handbook for the Treated Wood Industries.
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