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Robert Rice
119 Nutting
(207) 581-2883
e-mail: robert_rice@umit.maine.edu
Title: Professor of Wood Science
Degrees:
- B.S., University of New Haven, 1974, Physics
- M.S., Virginia Polytechnic Inst. & State Univ., 1985, Forest Products
- Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Inst. & State Univ., 1988, Forest Products
Current Research Interests:
- Wood Rheology
- Non-Destructive Evaluation of Materials
- Wood Drying/Energy
- Forest Products Marketing
- Wood-Based Composite Materials
- Pulp and Paper Marketing and Management
- JEDI Knight Training
Recent Publications:
Todd, K and R. W. Rice 2005 Factors affecting pulpwood inventory levels in the northeastern United States. Forest Products Journal. 55(7/8):17-21
Van dyk, H and Robert W. Rice 2005. An assessment of the feasibility of ultrasound as s defect detector in lumber. Holzforschung 59(4):441-445.
Van Dyk, H and Robert W. Rice 2005. Ultrasonic wave velocity as a moisture indicator in frozen and unfrozen lumber. Forest Products Journal 55(6):68-72
Rice, Robert. W. 2004. Emittance Factors for infrared thermometers used for wood products. Wood and Fiber Science. 36(4):520-526
Rice, R. W and Robert Shepard 2004. The thermal conductivity of plantation grown white pine (Pinus strobus) and Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) at two moisture content levels. Forest Products Journal. 54(1):92-94
Smith, Brett, R. W. Rice and Peter Ince. 2003 Pulp Capacity in the United States, 2000. USFPL General Technical Report FPL-GTR-139. USDA, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison WI. 23pp
Rice, William D. and R. W. Rice. 2003. The effect of steaming and moisture content change on the resonance frequency of wood. Wood and Fiber Science. 35(4):552-559.
Rice, R. W. and John Lucas 2003. The effect of moisture content and bending rate on the work required to bend solid red oak. Forest Products Journal 53(2):71-77.
Rice, R. W. 2003. Assessing the Effects of drying parameter changes on mass transfer using surface conductivity. Proceedings of the 8th IFURO International Drying Conference, Brasov, Romania.
Rice, R. W. and Chunyan Wang 2002. Assessing the effect of swelling pressures in particleboard and MDF using Acoustic Emission Technology. Wood and Fiber Science 34(4)577-586
Professional Activities
- Elected Faculty Representative, to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees 2005-
- Society of Wood Science and Technology_ The Professional Society of Wood Scientists and Technologists in the United States.
- Society President, 2002-2003
- Elected Vice-President, 2000
- Chair, Accreditation Committee, 1998-2000
- Elected President, Faculty Senate, University of Maine 2002-2003
- ASTM (American Society for Testing of Materials)
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Member, committee, D-7, Wood
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Chair, Physical Properties of wood subcomittee 1994-1996
- Forest Products Society
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Elected Chairman, Northeast Section (1995-1996)
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Elected board member of the Forest Products Society (1998-2000)
- I have worked with over 120 companies, both domestic and international, during my career and was awarded the College of Natural Science, Forestry and Agriculture’s outstanding service award for those and other efforts.
- Grant, gift and contract funding during the past 15 years: >$4 million.
Courses Taught for Graduate Credit:
- FTY 540 Forest Products Marketing
- INT 551 Structure of the Pulp and Paper Industry
- INT 553 Markets and Marketing in the Pulp and Paper Industry
- WSC 530 Wood Physics
Some Recent Graduate Student Thesis Topics:
Vandyk, H. Ultrasonic Evaluation Of Defects And Moisture Content Of Lumber.
Todd, Kevin. Factors Affecting Raw Material Inventory Management In The Northeastern United States Pulp And Paper Industry.
Libbey, Sean An Assessment of Regional Variation in the Factors Affecting the Mill-delivered Price of Softwood Sawlogs and Pulpwood in Nine States.
Lucas, John.. Evaluating the Effects of Bending Rate and Moisture Content on the Work Required to Ben Northern Red Oak.
Wang, C. Evaluating the Effect of Resin Level, Wax Level and Refiner Plate Sharpness Using Acoustic Emissions.
Willey, R. M. Multi-dimensional measurements of thermal conductivity in oriented strandboard using transient and steady state methods.
Guerin, J. An analysis of the Interrelationships Among Suppliers and Resellers of US Forest Products In the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands.
Long, W. 1995. The Detection of Structural Damage In Medium Density Fiberboard Using a Neural Network
The 10th International IUFRO Division-5
Wood Drying Conference was held at the University of Maine,
August 26-31, 2007. Links to Proceedings can be found below:
See the full program here
