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CORVALLIS - Fred Kamke, a leader in research on innovative new wood composite products and technology, has been appointed the first holder of the JELD-WEN Chair in Wood-Based Composite Science in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University.

This endowed chair was made possible by a $3.5 million gift from the JELD-WEN Foundation, based in Klamath Falls, Ore., to help expand the composites program at OSU. JELD-WEN, Inc., is the world's leading manufacturer of windows and doors. Oregon's largest privately held company, it has been a significant supporter of OSU programs for more than 30 years.

Kamke, who most recently served as director of the Sustainable Engineered Materials Institute at Virginia Tech, is an international leader in adhesion science, heat and mass transfer in wood-based products, and the manufacture and performance of wood-based composite materials, said Tom McLain, head of the OSU Department of Wood Science and Engineering.

"Working with a widely recognized scientist such as Dr. Kamke will boost our entire program in wood composites," McLain said. "This is a field of critical importance to the Oregon forest products industry, an area of economic growth for Oregon companies and a way to help create new jobs. But success in this field depends on being at the cutting edge of scientific advances."

Rather than focusing on traditional forest products such as lumber, the wood composites industry uses wood and natural fibers, along with adhesives and other materials such as plastics, metals or cement, to form new materials with commercial value. They may have advantages in strength, flexibility, durability, appearance, or represent a way to get greater use out of limited natural resources.

Kamke, who received his doctorate from OSU in 1983, has held a variety of positions in academia and government, and says he has a particular interest in improving the durability and structural performance of wood-based composite products.

"The old paradigm of growing trees for lumber or pulp is no longer the only option," Kamke said. "Short-rotation woody crops, intensively grown on a relatively small land area, may be used to produce structural products with properties equal to or better than the highest grade of Douglas-fir lumber."

Until recently, Kamke said, many composites have been thought of as a low-cost means of using commercial waste or low-quality wood. But these products are now the primary business of some companies, the material of choice for many applications, and a vital cog in the wood products industry.