PSE Students Do "Neat Stuff"

One big reason for the success of the PSE program and its graduates is that students are permitted to participate in exciting, unique, and meaningful "hands-on" experiences throughout their academic career. Here are a few examples from the past year:

> Sophomores in PSE 371 (Pulping Process Analysis) conduct laboratory experiments in which they convert simple sugars, biomass, and wastepaper into ethanol. This exercise helps them understand the potetial importance of biofuels and biomaterials to the pulp and paper industry -- and to the world. This year, for Earth Day, students did a demonstration of the "Wastepaper to Ethanol" project and garnered a lot of attention from the general student population. The photo above shows seniors Nick King and Brandon Jones at the display. To see a funny video of this demonstration, go to http://www4.ncsu.edu/~medbyrd/WastepaperIntoEthanol1.wmv .

> Seniors in PSE 472 (Paper Process Analysis) traditionally make a variety of paper grades on the NCSU pilot paper machine, affectionately known as "The Wolfpack Baby." This year, they did a very special run to make wedding invitation paper for classmate Jordan Jernigan's upcoming wedding. The quality of the paper was "pretty darned good," according to the Professor in charge, Dr. John Heitmann.

> Freshmen in PSE 201 (Introduction to Pulp & Paper Technology) were challenged by Professor Med Byrd to produce a work of visual or performance art that conveyed a key concept of science, engineering, or pulp paper technology. The results included: The Paper Tree of Life (shown above left), a 7-foot high tree made of solid wood at the base and ending up with various paper products as the leaves; A model of the fourdrinier paper machine made up of (mostly) paper products; "Refining Beast Man," a 3/4-scale figure (shown above right), made of paper mache, meant to represent the brutal force imparted to fibers during disk refining; and a video with students doing "interpretive dance" to show the different physical processes occurring during paper formation, pressing, and drying.

> To address the need for inexpensive housing for victims of natural and other disasters, Seniors in PSE 465 (Paper Physics and Product Design) were asked by Professor Joel Pawlak to design a portable and disposable/recyclable/compostable shelter out of paper or paperboard. This story was picked up by the local newspaper -- click on the link below.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/30/460316/a-better-shelter.html?storylink=misearch