The International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] is an international academy and a non-profit assembly of wood scientists, recognizing all fields of wood science with their associated technological domains and securing a worldwide representation. [9]
Since June 2023, the academy is represented by Dr. Stavros Avramidis, a Greek-Canadian professor and wood scientist who serves as the 19th President of the IAWS, [10] and, also by Dr. Ingo Burgert, a Swiss wood engineer who is presently the elected vice-president for the period 2023–2026. [11]
The academy was first established on June 2, 1966, at the Centre Technique du Bois in Paris.
The development and establishment of the International Academy of Wood Science involved many people, but the key-person who had the idea of creating a wood academy was Professor Franz Gustav Kollmann, of the Wood Research and Technology at the University of Munich, Germany. [12] In fact, he was also the first elected President of the academy in the years 1966–1972.
The academy has the objective of promoting at the international level the concerted development of wood science and its standing by recognizing meritorious wood scientists by their election as Fellows thereby honouring distinguished achievements in the science of wood, and by promoting a high standard of research and publication. In addition, the academy holds annual plenary meetings, including business meetings and technical sessions, in the form of international scientific conferences. [13]
Fellows of the IAWS are wood scientists who are elected as actively engaged in wood research in the broadest sense, their election being evidence of high scientific standards. New Fellows are nominated and evaluated by Fellows. The executive committee determines the number of nominees to be accepted as Fellows each year, based on those evaluations.
The tasks of the Fellows of the IAWS are highlighted as to:
The executive committee of the IAWS consists of the following officers: [14]
Sankar Kumar Pal is a computer scientist and the president of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata. He is also a National Science Chair, Government of India. Pal is a computer scientist with an international reputation on pattern recognition, image processing, fuzzy neural network, rough fuzzy hybridization, soft computing, granular mining, and machine intelligence. He pioneered the development of fuzzy set theory, and neuro-fuzzy and rough-fuzzy computing for uncertainty modelling with demonstration in pattern recognition, image processing, machine learning, knowledge-based systems and data mining. This has made him widely recognized across the world and made India a leader in these disciplines in international scenario. He founded the Machine Intelligence Unit in 1993, and the Center for Soft Computing Research: A National Facility in 2004, both at the ISI. In the process he has created many renowned scientists.
The Anselme Payen Award is an annual prize named in honor of Anselme Payen, the French scientist who discovered cellulose, and was a pioneer in the chemistry of both cellulose and lignin.
Cato T. Laurencin FREng SLMH is an American engineer, physician, scientist, innovator and a University Professor of the University of Connecticut.
Prem Chand Pandey is an Indian space scientist, planetary scientist, and academic in the fields of satellite oceanography, remote sensing, atmospheric science, the Antarctic and climate change, and also he is the founding director of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR).
Wood science is the scientific field which predominantly studies and investigates elements associated with the formation, the physical and chemical composition, and the macro- and microstructure of wood as a bio-based and lignocellulosic material. Wood science additionally delves into the biological, chemical, physical, and mechanical properties and characteristics of wood as a natural material.
Walter Liese was a German forestry and wood researcher and wood biologist.
Kasturi Lal Chopra was an Indian materials physicist and a director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He was the founder of the Thin Film Laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and the Microscience Laboratory at IIT, Kharagpur and held several US and Indian patents for his research findings. Author of a number of books on thin film technology, he was a recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology categories. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to science and engineering.
The Academy of Sciences Malaysia is a statutory body in the Malaysian government established under an act of Parliament. The Academy, abbreviated as ASM, is the highest scientific advisory body of Malaysia, and is organizationally under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).
Deborah Pierson Delmer is an American plant pathologist, and professor emeritus at University of California, Davis. She was one of the first scientists to discover the enzymes and biochemical mechanisms for tryptophan synthesis.
George Mantanis is a Greek wood scientist and professor at the University of Thessaly in Greece, who is an elected fellow (FIAWS) of the International Academy of Wood Science.
John Ralph is a New Zealand-born, American chemist, wood scientist, and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an elected fellow (FIAWS) of the International Academy of Wood Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS).
Stavros Avramidis is a Greek Canadian wood scientist and professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada, who is an elected fellow (FIAWS) and president of the International Academy of Wood Science for the period 2023-2026.
Rupert Wimmer is an Austrian materials researcher, wood scientist and professor at the Institute for Wood Technology and Renewable Materials at BOKU University, who is an elected fellow (FIAWS) of the International Academy of Wood Science.
Holger Militz is a German wood scientist and professor at the University of Goettingen, who is an elected fellow (FIAWS) of the International Academy of Wood Science.
Chung-Yun Hse was a Taiwanese American research scientist in wood utilization, who was an elected fellow (FIAWS) of the International Academy of Wood Science. He served at the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station in Pineville, Louisiana from 1967 through 2019.
Alfred Teischinger is an Austrian wood scientist and technologist and emeritus professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), who is an elected fellow (FIAWS) of the International Academy of Wood Science.
Callum A.S. Hill is a Scottish materials chemist and wood scientist, who worked at Bangor University and Edinburgh Napier University, and is an elected fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science.
Josef Franz Gierer is an Austrian-born Swedish chemist and wood scientist who is emeritus professor of organic chemistry, specialising in lignin research, who is a member of the International Academy of Wood Science and honorary recipient of the Anselme Payen Award.
Thomas Rosenau is a German-Austrian chemist and wood scientist specializing in chemistry, who is professor at the Department of Chemistry at BOKU University in Vienna, and also, elected member at the International Academy of Wood Science and honorary recipient of the Anselme Payen Award.
Kyösti Vilho Sarkanen (1921–1990) was a Finnish-American organic chemist and wood scientist, who served as a Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. He was the honorary recipient of the Anselme Payen Award in 1979 from the American Chemical Society, and an elected fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science.