SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry

Specialized facilities on the ESF campus include electron microscopes, plant growth chambers, air-conditioned greenhouses, a bioacoustical laboratory, radioscope laboratory and pilot-sized paper mill with accessory equipment, as well as wood products and machining laboratories.

The Department of Construction Management and Wood Products Engineering in Baker Laboratory has facilities for teaching and research in wood products engineering, construction, and construction management . Wood products engineering laboratory facilities include the Wood Products Engineering Laboratory TL-317 (WPEL), an IAS accredited laboratory (ANS/ISO/IEC 17025:2005) for mechanical testing, with a wide range of testing equipment and electronic data acquisition facilities, and wood processing facilities including a dry kiln, wood preservation equipment, wood machining laboratory, and sawmill. The C.J.K. Wang Wood Biodegradation Laboratory includes mycology culturing facilities and a modern molecular analysis laboratory, research microscopes, image analysis system and wood microtechnique equipment. One of the largest wood collections in the world, the H. P. Brown Memorial Wood Collection, is used to support the graduate research program of the Tropical Timber Information Center. A complete microscopy and image analysis laboratory is provided by the N.C. Brown Center for Ultrastructure Studies. Graduate students have some of the best available systems to relate the macroscopic behavior of wood to its anatomical characteristics. The Renewable Materials Institute conducts research in the broad area of sustainable development of wood resources and the uses of wood products. Construction Management facilities for research and teaching include laboratories for construction safety, building materials and green construction. A dedicated computer laboratory, the Construction Management Laboratory provides specialized software for construction estimating, scheduling, project management, wood engineering design, computer aided design and drafting, finite element analysis and other specialized software.

The Department of Paper and Bioprocess Engineering is located in Walters Hall, which is devoted to education and research in pulp, paper, bioproduct, bioenergy, and allied fields. The Department maintains a large number of special purpose laboratories and highly sophisticated scientific equipment, as well as a pilot plant equipped with machinery and instrumentation for studies of pulping, pulp cleaning and screening, recycling, refining, and papermaking. An environmental engineering laboratory includes various methods of paper recycling and waste treatment. A state-of-the-art laboratory for testing paper and other materials is in service.

Facilities also include equipment for the biological treatment and the separation processes for production of specialized chemicals and polymers from wood, including a 400-liter fermenter, nanoseparation equipment, and incubators for the growth of ligninolytic organisms. The pilot plant also includes appropriate equipment for engineering studies in the production of ethanol, plastics, advanced materials, and other products from wood and other lignocellulosic materials. This equipment, as well as the extensive chemical engineering laboratory, is employed for both education and research. Computer hardware and software are continually updated for teaching and research in process control and simulation.

The Department of Environmental Resources and Forest Engineering has dedicated greenhouse laboratories available for students working in ecological engineering and solid waste management. In addition, the department has specialized laboratories for the study of hydrology and hydraulics, intelligent geospatial systems, and ecological engineering. In addition to these laboratories, specialized computer facilities for GIS and environmental modeling are also available to students, as well as high-tech engineering design classrooms where students have ready access to design software and tools.

The Department of Environmental Resources and Forest Engineering also performs research throughout the world, with active participation with field stations, data analysis, and environmental modeling using data from Central America, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America.

Computing facilities are available to all students at various locations around the ESF campus. Free workshops on a variety of computer topics are offered each semester. Tutoring and software are also available.