Dr. Paul Winistorfer
Deptartment Head

Welcome to the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products at Virginia Tech. I am Paul Winistorfer, Head of our Department. Our department, faculty and students represent one of the leading programs in wood science and forest products in the world.

We offer a comprehensive undergraduate major with six career-specific options that is unmatched anywhere in the U.S. Our faculty excel in classroom teaching and we pride ourselves on teaching excellence and student advising. We offer many student scholarships, internship opportunities and summer employment opportunities with our industry partners.

We are engaged in cutting edge research that is leading the future utilization of wood and wood fiber. We actively engage government and private industry research projects. We drive a rigorous discovery oriented graduate program leading to the MS and/or PhD degree. All of our graduate students participate in our faculty-driven research programs.

We serve the citizens and industry of the Commonwealth, the region and the nation with an industry-linked extension and outreach program and a diverse offering of continuing education opportunities.

We believe in renewable materials utilization and in training the future generation of consumers, scientists, managers, leaders, and innovators. Our vision is clearly to be the best place for student education and to lead the nation in discovery-oriented research and continuing education in renewable materials utilization.

Our mission is to advance the sustainable use of the forest resource for the benefit of people by creating and disseminating knowledge about wood, forest products and their utilization.

I invite you to explore our website and learn more about our programs. Please let me know if I can be of assistance to you. We are proud of our program, faculty, staff and students.

Sincerely,

Paul M. Winistorfer, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head