Local professors to use grant funding for research on green-building construction methods

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two local professors will use a grant of $19,000 for new research in the area of green-building construction methods.

Their research will focus “specifically” on cross-laminated timber (CLT) wood products in multi-family housing, according to a news release issued by Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Syracuse’s sustainable-enterprise partnership (SEP) and the U.S. Green Building Council awarded the $19,000 grant.

Rene Germain, professor of forest and natural-resources management at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), and Patrick Penfield, professor of supply-chain practice at Syracuse University’s Whitman School, will conduct the research.

Their work will focus on the use of sustainable structural wood in multifamily housing and commercial structures.

Specifically, the researchers will examine the regulatory, political, and economic barriers that contribute to the lack of adoption of CLT in construction projects. CLT is an “environmentally friendly, cost-effective, quality” product, the researchers contend.

To promote research in sustainable enterprise, the SEP annually awards a grant of up to $20,000, which may be used for stipends, research assistants, materials, travel and other expenses, per the release.

All faculty, Ph.D. students, and other researchers from Syracuse University, SUNY-ESF and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) with interest in sustainable buildings and infrastructure are invited to apply.

In keeping with the SEP’s “emphasis on transdisciplinary collaboration and integration,” investigators from at least two disciplines are required for each proposal.

Projects that are “highly likely to have a meaningful impact — publication in a reputably scholarly or practitioner journal, attracting external support, and/or practical implementation” — are given priority.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com