Renewable Materials

Sustainability, innovative products and green building” – to renewable materials students and faculty members, these aren’t buzz words – they are principles that guide our program.

The renewable materials degree program provides students with an exceptionally well-balanced educational experience that leads to careers focused on creating and using sustainable materials. The curriculum emphasizes the development of products and energy from sustainably-managed forests, by-products from agricultural crops and recycled materials such as plastics, cardboard, and paper.

Our curriculum prepares students for a wide range of careers in the manufacture, conservation, marketing, and use of environmentally friendly, sustainable, renewable materials. Interdisciplinary coursework and project-based learning opportunities lead to a choice of several career tracks including procurement of timber and other renewable materials; production management, marketing and distribution of bio-based products; green building materials selection, construction and design; and bio-based energy production systems. The curriculum is structured, but still allows you to follow your specific interests in architecture, business, entrepreneurship, forest operations or agriculture.

This degree program is accredited by the Society of Wood Science and Technology. A degree from an accredited program carries more weight in the marketplace, an advantage when you start your career or apply for graduate school education.

Prepare for Success

If you have a passion for making a positive impact by providing society with sustainable products, building materials and energy, then a career in a forward-looking program like renewable materials could be for you. Field and hands-on laboratory experiences are an integral part of the curriculum. Our program will show you how to manage renewable natural resources, create renewable environmentally-friendly products for the future, market and distribute green building materials, research and develop biocomposites, develop biofuels from wood and agricultural by-products, and create plastics from waste materials.

Our program has five career tracks: construction and design, business management, materials acquisition and supply, bio-based materials, and bio-energy. You will get the most out of this program if you have an interest in science, creating wood or renewable products, green construction practices, developing alternative fuels and/or entrepreneurship along with good study habits.  

U-Idaho’s renewable materials program is the only such program in the nation that has an integrated business component.

Your First Year

During the first year in our program, you may be studying the following subjects:  

• Biology and Society
• Introductory  Chemistry
• Public Speaking
• Writing and Rhetoric
• Introduction to Renewable Materials
• Exploring Natural Resources

What You Can Do

Our curriculum incorporates concepts of science and technology with best-practices for product design, construction and business management. Thus, with a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Materials, you’ll have a strong combination of science and technical expertise, and a targeted background in a career direction of your choice. In addition, we encourage and assist you in locating summer jobs that are relevant and provide the experience that will prepare you for a well-paying position in the renewable materials industry.

Opportunities

Renewable materials graduates pursue jobs like:

Production manager for sustainable products
New products developer
Bio-based products entrepreneur

As a professional in the renewable materials field, you may:

• Create sustainable products for the future
• Research biomaterials and bioproducts
• Manage renewable natural resources
• Design and build green buildings
• Provide and distribute renewable building materials
• Develop new sources and markets for bio-based fuels
• Purchase or supply renewable raw materials
• Production manager for sustainable products
• New products developer
• Bio-based products entrepreneur
• Oversee production management, marketing, distribution, and technical support services
• Discover innovative solutions to challenging international resource-related issues

Our faculty and staff members provide one-on-one advising and assistance to help you develop an academic plan. We also work to ensure a timely graduation for all renewable materials students.

Activities

Hands-On Experience

We have an interdisciplinary approach to wildland fire research. We challenge our students with innovative research projects that provide useful, timely and sound scientific input to help solve fire management issues across the state, region and nation. Our  Idaho Fire (iFIRE) Labs consist of a collection of facilities which enable the investigation of wildland fires over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales: from individual plants to global scales and from the Holocene to predicted future events. They include a fine-scale fire processes facility, a medium-scale combustion table and three fire ecology labs focusing on climate, vegetation response, and paleoecology research. Our state-of-the-art Geospatial Laboratory for Environmental Dynamics will teach you how technology can be used to study and manage fire.

Your field experiences will include developing actual proposals for prescribed burns and fuel treatments and designing fire effects and fuels monitoring plans.

Breakthroughs & Discoveries

Business Leaders of the Future: A team of CNR students who competed in the Vandal Innovation and Enterprise Works (VIEW) entrepreneurship competition created ReadyBrace, a tool builders can reuse to brace walls during construction. The temporary bracing system replaces traditional brace tilt-up systems with a more cost-effective, adjustable clamping system that allows for adjustments and leveling during wall assembly. 

Facilities

Faculty Involvement

An extremely diverse group of faculty challenges students both in and out of the classroom. Lab and field facilities are used both on- and off-campus.

Thomas M. Gorman
Associate Dean;Professor of Renewable Materials
Research Interests: Wood quality; Small diameter log utilization; Mechanical properties of wood; Sustainable green building practices; Energy-efficient wood-framed housing; Durability of wood-framed buildings
» View Tom Gorman's profile

Armando McDonald
Professor, Biomaterials and Bioproducts
Research Interests: Biopolymers and bioplastics synthesis/biosynthesis from waste streams; Biobased composite materials research, including fiber modifications and product prototype development; Development of biobased fuels from biomass, including pyrolysis and synthesis gas upgrading to gasoline; Understanding wood/xylem formation using a combined biochemistry/proteomics approach
» View Armando McDonald's profile

Scott Metlen, Ph.D., Business Department Head and Associate Professor
Associate Professor and Business Department Head
Ph.D. 2002 University of Utah
Areas of Expertise: management of quality, organizational structure, and process and product management.
Office: ALB225A | Phone: (208)885-5480 | Email: metlen@uidaho.edu
» View Scott Metlen's Profile

Steven R. Shook, Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing, Affiliate Professor of Forest Products
Ph.D. 1997 University of Washington
Areas of Expertise: diffusion and adoption of products, services, and processes; pricing strategy; forest products industry.
Office: ALB 303 | Phone: (208) 885-6802 | Email: shook@uidaho.edu
» View Steve Shook's Profile

Donald Bender, Affiliate Faculty Member
Professor of Civil Engineering; Director of Composite Materials and Engineering Center at Washington State University
Research Interests: Building energy efficiency; Engineering properties of wood composites; Design of wood structures
» View Donald Bender's profile

Keith Blatner, Affiliate Faculty Member
Department Chair and Professor for Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University Research Interests: The analysis of markets for timber and non-timber forest products under existing and potential future environmental, social and political constraints; The changing role of non-industrial private forest landowners in the forest products sector of the Pacific Northwest and the application of collaborative learning as a mechanism for fostering more effective public involvement in the management of public forest lands.
» blatner@wsu.edu

Marie-Pierre Laborie, Affiliate Faculty Member
Professor
Research Interests: Valorizing bio-based resources for utilization in polymeric and composite materials, eg. design of lignin-based polymers; Cellulose-based nanocomposites and surface treatments for bio-based materials; Physical and viscoelastic properties of wood and wood-based materials; Adhesion in wood-based materials; Nanometer scale design of wood-polymer composites
» View Marie-Pierre Laborie's profile

Michael Wolcott, Affiliate Faculty Member
Professor; Director of Institute for Sustainable Design
Research Interests: Sustainable Design; Materials Development; Biopolymers; Natural Fiber Composites; Design concepts that enable sustainable communities; Co-products that enable biorefineries
» View Mike Wolcott's profile

John "Jack" Morris, Ph.D., Emeritus Faculty Member
Dean and Professor of Operations Management
Jack Morris has been involved in several curriculum development projects including the College’s Integrated Business Curriculum, or IBC. His research interests include the use of technology in developing lifelong learning skills and cellular manufacturing.
» jmorris@uidaho.edu