MSU professor receives international wood science honor

Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--Terry L. Amburgey of Mississippi State is a new Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science.

A professor in the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Amburgey is being honored by the professional organization for outstanding contributions to the field.

He currently leads an interdisciplinary research team focusing on natural challenges to Southern housing. Involving MSU faculty members in forest products, engineering, landscape architecture, and architecture, the group works to ensure that new homes in the region will survive, among other factors, high heat and humidity, fungi and mold, and various insects.

A Giles Distinguished Professor--MSU's highest faculty honor--Amburgey joined the faculty nearly three decades ago as an authority on the prevention of wood-structure deterioration.

"Dr. Amburgey is considered a national expert on wood preservation, including the prevention and control of decay fungi and insects in wood products," said George Hopper. "He is very deserving of this high honor."

Hopper is dean of MSU's College of Forest Resources and director of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center.

Amburgey's career work has resulted in six U.S. patents, as well as one each in New Zealand and Australia.

A New Jersey native and North Carolina State University doctoral graduate, he also holds professional memberships in the Forest Products Society, American Wood-Preserver's Association and National Trust for Historic Preservation, among others.

Founded in 1966, the International Academy of World Science is an assembly of professionals in all areas of wood science and technology.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.