Speakers 2011

Chris Carbone, PE

Company Steward, Engineer

Chris leads the design and engineering team at Bensonwood — scheduling and managing the production work flow through the office. Licensed as a Structural Engineer, he’s ultimately responsible for the structural integrity of all Bensonwood projects. As an undergraduate at Dartmouth College he majored in engineering and minored in studio art. Additionally, with a Master’s of Science in Building Technology from MIT he has the ability to quantitatively analyze building’s energy performance and is constantly staying current with innovative construction products and techniques. Throughout his time at Bensonwood he’s been designing and building beautiful structures with celebrated wooden and steel joinery while researching and developing new cellulose based enclosure systems. Chris is also his own guinea pig; he built his own super-insulated, passive solar house which employs an early version of Bensonwood’s OB Plus wall.

J.B. Clancy, AIA

Architect, Certified Passive House Consultant

J.B. ClancyJ.B. Clancy is an architect and partner at Albert, Righter and Tittmann, Architects in Boston.  J.B. Clancy has worked on projects ranging in scale from furniture to houses to the plan for NYC’s Olympic Bid.   J.B.’s main focus is residential architecture and sustainable design.  J.B is a Certified Passive House Consultant and has designed a Certified Passive House for Habitat for Humanity in Vermont.  J.B. is a graduate of Brown University and Yale School of Architecture.

Peggi Clouston

Ph.D., P.Eng., Associate Professor

Peggi CloustonDr. Clouston has been working in the field of structural wood design and engineering for over twenty years. She currently teaches structural timber design, bio-based building composites and statics/strength of materials (tectonics) for architects, engineers and construction technologists at the University of Massachusetts. Her research program focuses on the structural behavior and efficient use of sustainable, biobased composite materials. Current research topics include: wood-concrete composite systems, laminated bamboo lumber, innovative timber connections, and computational modeling of wood-based composites.

Dr. Clouston is a registered professional engineer (APEGBC) since 1992 and an associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers since 2001. She serves on numerous national review panels and committees and is founder and coordinator of the Professional Masters Option in Green Building as well as the UMass Wood Structures Symposium.

Jean-Marc Dubois

Nordic Engineered Wood

Jean-Marc Dubois has been in the building industry for over thirty years, and was the Engineered Wood Products market development manager for Weyerhaeuser Company’s two regional facilities in Pennsylvania beginning in 1987.  Jean-Marc’s responsibilities included design and takeoff  services with Mitek, Louisiana Pacific, Trusjoist, and Weyerhaeuser products and software. 

Jean-Marc is now the northeast US regional sales manager for Nordic Engineered Wood, a vertically integrated sustainable lumber and Engineered Wood products company. Since 2001 he has provided product training and marketing support for an expanding network of architects, designers, dealers and distributors from Maine to Illinois, and through the mid-Atlantic States.  Jean-Marc has been instrumental in the development and production of a number of engineered wood products during his tenure with Nordic, including glue-laminated engineered studs, glue-laminated-lumber flanged I-joists, and most recently, a unique framing system that reduces thermal bridging in the building envelope.

Paul Fisette

Department Head of Environmental Conservation

Paul Fisette is Head of the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. He is the past Director of the Building and ConstructionTechnology program; and is currently a Professor of Building and Construction Technology, and a Professor of Architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.   

Professor Fisette’s research and professional focus involves the performance of building systems, energy efficient construction, sustainable building practices, and the performance of building materials. He is expert in how moisture moves and influences buildings and occupancy. Professor Fisette has authored more than 200 published works regarding building science and construction technology. Previous to his current position, he owned and operated a general contracting business and was senior editor with Progressive Builder Magazine,covering technical information and innovations of interest to residential building firms. 

Professor Fisette was a member of the National Academies Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (BICE) for six years, served on several National Academies expert panels, is contributing editor withThe Journal of Light Construction, and has served on a variety of editorial and professional advisory boards. 

Michael Flach

Univ. Prof., Dipl. Ing., Dr. Ing.

Prof. DDI Flach is a Civil Engineer and head of the Department of Timber Engineering at the University of Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. The main focus of his work is the design of long-span bridges and development of large-scale structures in wood. During his career he developed and built more than 300 timber structures in Austria and France.

Dr. Flach came 2002 as a Professor to Innsbruck after having been a Manager at ICS-BOIS, a timber design office in France (1989 to 1998) and Manager of Arborescence, France (1998 to 2002) a firm dedicated to wood design and environmentally sensitive construction in wood. He also taught several years as an Assistant Professor at the school of Architecture in Lyon and Grenoble, France, and one year as an invited professor at the University of British-Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

In recent years, Prof. Flach has dedicated himself increasingly to the development of novel, eco-friendly and energy efficient timber constructions for new types of housing and changed lifestyles. This is based on a holistic approach. “Integrated planned high-efficiency energy and social systems for sustainable lifestyles of the future” – INTENSYS for short – was a large recent interdisciplinary research project on this topic with project partners from architecture, physics, social sciences and project management. This project was recently completed.

Anton Kraler

Asst.-Prof. DI Dr. techn. – Assistant professor, architect, master carpenter

Anton Kraler

Dr. Kraler has been working and teaching since 2002 at the Department of Timber Engineering at the University of Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. His main research focus is Building Physics (sound insulation, air tightness, thermal insulation) and Quality Management in Timber Construction. He recently led a research project for high-quality soundproofing in timber buildings for the first 4-storey residential building in wood, constructed in Innsbruck.

By virtue of his earlier work as a master carpenter, he understands not only the theoretical but also the practical approach in the development and implementation of timber building details or timber building systems.

In addition to his work at the university, Dr. Kraler is an external quality commissioner for several timber construction companies in Tyrol, Austria. These activities include annual quality checks and multi-day courses for employees of timber construction businesses under the umbrella of a dedicated Academy.

His current research projects include: improvement of sound insulation in wooden construction in Italy, the development of wood-panel clips for solid wood building elements and a test series for strength of mountain-grown timber. He is also an expert on acoustic measurements, blower door measurements and thermal imagery.

Scott Lockyear, PE

Senior Technical Director WoodWorks – School Construction

Scott Lockyear is currently the Senior Director for WoodWorks and is responsible for providing continuing education to practitioners in addition to providing assistance on the design of commercial wood frame buildings. Prior to joining WoodWorks Scott managed technical support services in the Southeastern US for Trus Joist/Weyerhaueser. In this role he was responsible for production of shop drawings, providing education on engineered wood products design, and providing engineering support.

He also has been a staff engineer with the American Wood Council and was heavily involved in the development of wood design standards such as the Wood Frame Construction Manual and the National Design Specification for Wood. Scott is currently an associate member on ASCE 7 wind and snow committees and has been involved with ASTM standards related to building construction and fasteners.

Scott has a Master of Science from Washington State University in Civil Engineering. While at Washington State University his masters research involved establishing design properties for wood plastic composites for use in marine and naval applications.

Mohammad Mohammad

Group Leader (Structure), FPInnovations

Since 2000, Mohammad has been working as a research scientist and a Group Leader of the structural group at FPInnovations – Forintek Division in Quebec city, Canada. Prior to that, he worked at the Civil Engineering Department of the Royal Military of Canada (RMC) in Canada as a research associate. Most of the research work at the RMC was focused on the performance of timber connections and rehabilitation of old timber structures. Mohammad graduated from the University of New Brunswick, Canada with a PhD degree in Timber Engineering in 1996.

Currently, Mohammad is involved in several research projects dealing with the performance of connections in hybrid systems and multi-storey Post and Beam construction. In addition, he and his group provide technical support to the wood industry in the development of new and innovative wood-based products and participate in codes and standards on wood design.

Mathias Oberholzer

Nordic Engineered Wood

Mathias Oberholzer, born in 1980, moved from Canada back to Switzerland after completing high school in 1999 in order to do a 3-year carpentry apprenticeship. After receiving his diploma he worked as a carpenter for various Swiss companies before beginning his studies at the Berne University of Applied Sciences in Biel, Switzerland in 2003. During this time he also took part in a mandatory one-year engineering internship which he spent at Bensonwood in Walpole, New Hampshire. He completed the 4-year program with a degree in wood engineering specializing in structures.

Mathias returned to Canada in 2007 to work for Cadwork in Montreal and since 2009 he works as a project manager for Nordic Wood Structures in the same city.

Ludmilla Pavlova, AIA

Senior Facilities Planner

Ludmilla Pavlova is Senior Facilities Planner in Campus Planning at UMass Amherst and is responsible for master plan programming and planning for research, academic and administrative facilities and developing design guidelines.

Ludmilla has managed the planning of major capital projects including Harold Alfond Hall/ ISOM Addition, the Integrated Science Building, the Berkshire Dining Commons Renovation, the Southwest Residential Area Concourse, the Comprehensive Academic and Classroom Facilities Plan and the Library Master Plan.

Passionate about campus sustainability, Ludmilla often lectures on the topic and helped author the first UMass Amherst Sustainability Plan. Prior to coming to UMass she worked for design firms in New York City most notably for John M.Y. Lee/ Michael Timchula Associates, managing the design and construction of the Curtis/Balkan Factory in Sofia, Bulgaria, and as a member of the team that designed the Shenzhen City Center Urban Design and City Hall, Shenzhen, China.

Ludmilla has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and European Cultural Studies from Princeton University and a Masters of Architecture from Columbia University. She is Chair of the USGBC MA Chapter Western MA Committee and Secretary of the Western MA AIA.

Maria Schneider

Univ. -Prof. Arch., Dipl. Ing., Dr. Tech.

Dr. Schneider is currently a principal of the Austrian architectural office architektur.ps. She also teaches architecture at the University of Innsbruck.

She has been a Professor at the Institute of Urban Design and Regional Planning at the University of Innsbruck, Austria since 2006 and holds the position of Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Architecture since 2008.

Alexander C. Schreyer

M.A.Sc., Dipl.-Ing., Lecturer

Combining backgrounds in structural engineering, wood science and digital design, Mr. Schreyer’s interests span the entire range of planning and design of buildings and structures. He specializes in the design and construction of mainly heavy-timber type (e.g. glulam) structural systems. This is complemented by a strong interest in computer applications and web-based solutions in structural engineering, construction and architecture.

Mr. Schreyer is a Lecturer in the Building and Construction Technology (BCT) program at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) in Amherst, MA. He teaches classes in CAD (Computer-Aided Design) and BIM (Building Information Modeling), building materials and construction methods, wood properties as well as a capstone graduate structural design class in Architecture.

In his research, Mr. Schreyer focuses on the behavior of wood-based structural systems with a particular interest in innovative connection systems for wooden structures. Other foci are development of software applications for CAD design and structural optimization.

September 8-9, 2011 — University of Massachusetts Campus Center, Amherst, MA