Location: Nutrition, Food Safety/Quality
Project Number: 0500-00090-001-013-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 2, 2025
End Date: Sep 1, 2028
Objective:
The overarching goal of this project is to provide companies in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) with fundamental and applied knowledge, and training necessary to develop competitive leadership in emerging domestic and global markets for innovative and renewable structural wood products. One of the keys to success of any industry is a focus on current challenges as well as a focus on future innovations Success will increase the value of the region’s forests, support effective forest management, and grow the number of manufacturing jobs in rural communities. The Pacific Northwest’s timber industry can benefit by growing its capacity to manufacture mass-timber building components, including cross laminated timber and veneer-based products. Similarly, the region’s building design professions are ideally positioned to expand their reputation for resilient design and establish the Pacific Northwest as a North American hub for expertise in innovative wood building design. Our 2025 Special Emphasis Area is related to the goals of the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition (OMTC) and the Pacific Northwest Mass Timber Tech Hub (Tech Hub). Led by OSU, UO, and a coalition of public and private sector partners in Oregon and Washington, the shared overarching goal is to transform the PNW mass timber sector to a position of global competitiveness within ten years, in doing so supporting domestic manufacturing and national security interests. In practical terms, this means enacting strategies that will eliminate the current price advantage that European producers command, while creating jobs in rural and urban communities, addressing the housing and wildfire crises, and ensuring robust markets for fiber supply.
It is clear that innovating on such a wide front requires robust applied research aimed at removing existing barriers, filling persistent gaps in knowledge, as well as building new knowledge in relevant disciplines and providing state-of-the-art training for the expert workforce to support that growth.
Our aim is to provide knowledge that helps stimulate markets, removes code and regulatory hurdles, lowers the risk of investment in mass timber factories and buildings, and informs capital and cost analyses.
Our objectives fall into two broad categories:
1) Conducting research to stimulate new wood building design, such as
• expanding and developing new products, next-generation product concepts, and building components;
• addressing safety and livability in mass timber structures through fire, seismic, acoustic, and environmental testing;
• simplifying building construction approvals and processes and alleviating anticipated challenges in wood construction; and
• fostering markets and next-generation supply chains for large wood buildings and for engineered wood products used in the built environment.
2) Effectively disseminating and communicating research findings to scientists, manufacturers, designers, and relevant public-sector personnel.
Approach:
The research projects carried out under this program will be coordinated by the College of Forestry in partnership with the TallWood Design Institute (TDI) and affiliated academic units. Funded primarily by the State of Oregon, TDI is a research and outreach partnership among OSU’s College of Forestry, College of Engineering, and University of Oregon’s College of Design, operating the state-of-the-art A.A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory at OSU. TDI brings together a unique set of expertise in architecture, wood science, and engineering to focus on the development and advancement of innovative wood products and building components, and technologies related to modern wood structures.
Project resources will support graduate student and post doc training and research, providing outstanding opportunities to engage top faculty, utilize world class facilities, and partner with industry and community leaders to addresses relevant challenges.
Our research priorities address the central theme of increasing applications for wood-based products that can be appropriately used for structural purposes in multi-family residential and non-residential wood buildings, including modular and other appropriate applications. Research may focus anywhere along the supply chain where benefits can be derived – from the sourcing and development of materials to their end-of-life, and to design, engineering, manufacture, and construction. Proposals submitted will articulate how the proposed project addresses one or more of the following themes.
1) Development of new advanced timber products.
a. Structural/seismic research. Validation of existing, or development of new connections
b. Validation of existing, or development of new roof and/or floor systems.
c. Contributions to development of alternative approaches to ELF (Equivalent Lateral Force) seismic design.
d. Hybrid systems that combine wood Vertical Load Carrying Systems with steel or concrete Lateral Load Resisting Systems.
2) Research that is leveraging or complementing large-scale research efforts undertaken by other entities.
3) Research related to fire, vibration, or durability (especially moisture-related) performance.
4) Research that helps to develop modular systems including components or assemblies for use in affordable housing, fast deployment housing, etc
5) Research that addresses wood-related environmental concerns and explores carbon benefits and lifecycle analyses of wood buildings.
6) Research on digital design, fabrication and construction of wood buildings.
7) Business and economic questions encountered when exploring the use of innovative wood products.
8) Research and outreach materials development that contributes to educating architects, engineers, builders and developers on modern timber construction.
9) Resuse of mass timber components
Qualified applied research projects will demonstrate that they address challenges and opportunities seen in the marketplace. The CoF Extension faculty and TDI provide outstanding capacity to assess industry needs and communicate research findings to stakeholders.