QUEBEC CITY, QC - Leaders and innovators in the forestry industry will be celebrated during the 2014 Forest Products Society Annual Excellence Awards at the FPS 68th International Convention, Aug. 10-13, in Quebec City.

Mark Gibson, a professor and associate director of forestry at Louisiana Tech University was named the Fred W. Gottschalk Memorial Award winner. Gibson has 30 years of experience in research and teaching of wood technology. His research examines the influences of forest management practices on wood quality in plantation-grown and naturally-grown hardwoods and southern pines, and the influence of wood quality on manufacturing processes.

The Fred W. Gottschalk Memorial Award recognizes and honors exceptional service to the Forest Products Society by an individual member.

Samuel Zelinka, a materials research engineer with USDA FS Forest Products Laboratory, won the Wood Engineering Achievement Award. Zelinka developed electrochemical based tools to quickly assess the corrosion potential of actual fasteners in preservative treated wood. His findings led to application of percolation theory to develop a new model for electrical conduction in wood as a function of moisture content that helps explain why corrosion and mold growth occur below fiber saturation.

The Wood Engineering Achievement Award recognizes achievements and innovations in the discipline of wood engineering, including structures, structural elements, building codes, consensus standards, design procedures and education.

Shan Gao of Northeast Forestry University won the L.J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Award for being the lead author of "Effect of Temperature on Acoustic Evaluation of Standing Trees and Logs: Part 2 – Field Investigation,” featured in Wood and Fiber Science.

The L.J. Markwardt Award recognizes the author(s) of a technical paper published in the Forest Products Journal or Wood and Fiber Science during the previous two years that has the most outstanding merit in the field of wood as an engineering material.

2014 Wood Preservation Fund Student Scholarship recipients are:

• Hector Fabio Archila Santos, University of Bath
• Mario De Jesús García Manzano, University of Guadalajara
• Ataollah Haddadi, University of New Brunswick
• Maria Fernanda Laguarda Mallo, University of Minnesota
• Benedikt Neyses, Luleå Tekniska Universitet
• Areo Olusola Samuel, University of Ibadan
• Paul Frederik Laleicke, Oregon State University
• Wyatt Klopp, University of Northern British Columbia
• Leandro Passarini, Université Laval
• Aaron Weidman, Oregon State University