NOTHING can make carbon disappear.
No need to panic just yet...
Trees clean air by absorbing CO2— the main contributor to global warming.
Once harvested and manufactured, timber products can store carbon for decades, or even centuries!
By 2100, new forests could offset seven years' worth of global CO2 emissions.
Harvesting is not only good—it’s necessary.
Private working forests provide 54% of total carbon storage and 90% of the wood for forest products.
31%
67 Million
32%
What can you do in wood products?
Just about anything.
From sustainable packaging to timber-fiber fashion—the wood products industry is constantly reinventing itself.
Business & Operations
Marketing & Sales
Engineering & Sustainable Design
Wood you
Take the next step
View our top-ranked universities and learn about the programs that will accelerate your career in sustainable wood products.
Find a Biomaterials Program Near You
Results:
Purdue University
Transforming Tomorrow Through Research
The Wood Research Laboratory (WRL) at Purdue University addresses timely research and technology transfer in wood-based product development and process engineering. The lab is leading the programs: Sustainable Biomaterials: Process and Product Design, which is a concentration available under the forestry major in the Purdue University Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. We also offer minors in Furniture Design and Wood Products Manufacturing Technology.
Oregon State
Wood Innovation for Sustainability
Building the path to a sustainable future requires finding new and innovative ways to use wood and organic materials for products we use every day. As a WINS student, you'll be a part of a community of researchers, scientists and changemakers, creating solutions that impact every level of the wood products industry. From research and development to marketing and management to design and engineering, find your path to make a difference.
Mississippi State
Reimagining Renewable Resources
Using bioproducts ensures the future health of the environment, captures greenhouse gases, promotes carbon neutrality, and provides a long term source of wood materials and employment opportunities for future generations. With a 100% placement rate following graduation, students with a sustainable bioproducts degree from Mississippi State will be immediate contributors to the forest products industry with high starting salaries and opportunities in lumber, furniture, wood products, composites, and paper.
Virginia Tech
Packaging Sustainable Futures
Sustainable Biomaterials majors at Virginia Tech work to create solutions to key issues in global ecology – from pollution to climate change. We research sustainable, renewable biomaterials and biopolymers to reduce adverse environmental impacts across industries. Our Packaging Systems and Design majors focus on ways to positively affect the entire supply chain and its environmental impact. We know that every resource that is moved for industry or commerce is packaged and our students will change the packaging industry.
Michigan Tech
Build a Sustainable Future
The sustainable bioproducts program at Michigan Tech provides you with hands-on experience in applying renewable resource technology to create a global sustainability movement. You will learn a combination of wood product innovation, engineering, business, and forestry. You'll know all about bio-based resources, what it means to put sustainable concepts into action, and how to use your passion for a clean future to help advance the circular bioeconomy.
Exciting. Emerging. Constantly Reinventing.
10 unique universities waiting for you:
10 Universities
Countless Opportunities
Timber TalesTestimonials from Wood Products Majors
Madeline Gnann
University & Major
Mississippi State University, Sustainable Bioproducts with a concentration in Business, May 2025.
Vision for The Future
After graduation, I plan on beginning my master's degree and continuing my work in outdoor education.
Super Power
For the past two years, in my time spent away from college, I have worked at a summer camp in Little Rock, Arkansas!
Lucy Vitali
University & Major
Oregon State University, Wood Innovation for Sustainability, December 2024
Vision for The Future
I wish to create innovative wooden furniture pieces that merge alternative materials such as hemp and bamboo.
Super Power
I have tons of hobbies that keep me busy from crochet, archery, metalworking, baking, and more.
Katie Nix
University & Major
Purdue University, Industrial Design major, May 2025.
Vision for The Future
With my minor in furniture design, I hope to design pieces of furniture using local resources families want to pass down through the different generations, just like my family does.
Super Power
Problem solving: I hope to design products that help bridge the gap between problem-solving and creativity.
Nicole McGinn
University & Major
Michigan Technological University, Sustainable Bioproducts, Concentration in Sustainable Structures
Vision for The Future
I hope to work in building materials to help create sustainable buildings and bridge the gap between the built world and the natural environment.
Super Power
I enjoy being outdoors and have visited 16 National Parks in the US, and hope to visit more!
Zane Smoldt
University & Major
Purdue University, Forestry major with a concentration in forest management, May 2025.
Vision for The Future
With my wood products manufacturing technology minor, I hope to gain a better understanding of how we take our natural resources from the woods and turn them into furniture and other products we use in our everyday lives.
Super Power
At Purdue’s Bug Bowl in 2014, I was the cricket-spitting champion, but if I had to have a superpower, I would like to fly.
Saewhan Kim
University & Major
Virginia Tech, PhD in Forest Products, May 2025
Vision for The Future
The packaging courses I took in college introduced me to the idea that there are many people who contribute to engineering safer, more sustainable, and more cost-effective distribution packaging, which I never realized is happening behind the scenes.
Super Power
Saving the planet from over packaging. I hope to go back to South Korea to educate the packaging industry on improvements to reduce use of pallets and cushioning that result in environmental pollution.
It's time to act. Here's how:
1
Open your mind.
Forget what you think you know. Seriously—toss it out the window. Good, now you’re ready.
2
Open your eyes.
Climate change is here. The future of our world is being decided now. Are you in?
3
Open your wallet.
JK—we're just hopeful you want to fight global warming and build a career in the process.
Build a career
Change the world
Wood you dare to fight for sustainable solutions? Pick a program and get packing:
The world needs sustainable solutions.
The forest products industry in the US employs 950,000 with a payroll of $50 billion annually. Are you up to the task?
Flex your options
Do you see life as an adventure and value flexibility?
Engineer change
Want a meaningful career designing ways to capture carbon?
Solve sustainability
Ready to become a changemaker through sustainable solutions?
Capture CO2
Want to become an expert in storing carbon and biomaterials?
Back biomaterials
Interested in biomaterials and growing your career with the industry?