Mainebiz cites Shaler, UMaine Composites Center in story on engineered wood products
The University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center is playing a key role in boosting the growing market demand for cross-laminated timber (CLT) and other engineered wood products, reports Mainebiz. Stephen Shaler, director of UMaine’s School of Forest Resources, is leading a CLT testing project at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, funded by a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are only two CLT manufacturers in the U.S., but Shaler said UMaine’s advanced testing capabilities, and the state’s 17 million acres of privately owned forest, make Maine an attractive place for another CLT manufacturer to open up shop. That, Shaler told Mainebiz, would position Maine to become a major exporter of mass timber products. “It will happen,” he said. “The question is when.”