Biofore Magazine 2022

By Asa Butcher Photography Teemu Leinonen, LUT

IN THE SPOT L IGHT

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How has your experience as a professor at a Finnish university been so far? Remote lecturing fromCalifornia has been a challenge, but we’re build ing a telepresence robotmade almost entirely out of Baltic plywood so I can have some physicality. It has a flat-pack design like IKEA furniture and even some of the bushings/bearings and lead screws aremade from wood, which we achieved by simply drilling a hole and impregnating it with oil or grease (readmore on page 54). I do visit Finland once a year for a week or two, but I'm like this ‘big shot’ that shows up, talks to people and then disappears. This isn’t conducive to giving students the confidence to push back against my ideas, which I welcome. I want to give themamore balanced education, where they learn something in class and can then experiment with it. The best way to internalise something is to have some physical connection with it. How important has it been to teach sustainable engineering to students at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT)? It's a focusof theJamieHynemanCentreandLUThas longbeenorient ed thisway. After arriving inFinland, I realised thatwood is anextensive natural resource and that Finnish culture has been formed in part by that. I've had talks with UPM about the importance of getting sustain- ableproducts into the supply chain. It's one thing to thinkof an invention or new approach, but it's not going to make any difference unless you canget it in thehands of users andget it into themarket. The simple fact is that it's going to cost somebody something to adopt a new idea. Have you always believed in incorporating sustainability into your research throughout your career? I grew up on an apple orchard in the American Midwest and saw the impact we had on it. There were several small lakes on the property that were crystal clear and loaded with fish, but after a couple of years of my father applying modern agriculture practices to the orchard, the lakesbecamemurkyand thefishdisappeared. Ever since then, I'vedone everything I can tominimisemy footprint. The sustainable engineering of different materials can have a pro found impact on the world. We’re aware of the problems that are occurringwith climate change andwe've dawdled too longwithout doing enough. I'd like to see as much effort as possible put into sustainable structures and the responsiblemanagement of our resources before it's too late. What materials have yet to reach their fullest potential? I've long been fascinated by engineeredwood. Glulam(glued laminated timber) and plywood have been around for a while, but I think they can be further engineered. At LUT, we've been experimenting with truss-like configurations that are very strong. If we can use that triangulation, the entire wood

structure can be lighter. The students and I have already made a beam fromplywood that is of a standard glulam size, but a tenth of the weight. Using one of LUT’s load cell testers, we’ll break the glulam and our truss structuretoseethedifferenceinperformance. If itsupports50%asmuch, then that's a win. Finding ways to minimise the amount of mass needed sets upa feedback loopof everythingbecoming lighter and stronger.

“I realised that wood is an extensive natural resource and that Finnish culture has been formed in part by that.”

What other innova tions have caught your attention? I saw that wood is being used tomake foam, sowe don’t have to use polyu rethane or Styrofoam. I believe it is made by pul verising a wood product or polarising cellulose from trees and then aer ating it in a slurry. Lignin and other wood-based chemical components create the adhesive that holds all those finely grounded particles together. It has high-insulating qualities and doesn't require pe troleum in its produc tion. When it goes to a landfill, it's not going to harm the environment and it'll decompose nat urally. There is unlim ited potential in how

wood canbe engineered, butmy biggest concern is if forests aren’t sus tainablymanaged and harvested then it could backfire in a heartbeat. What do you believe is at the heart of innovation? Ultimately, it's all about curiosity. Young people are naturally curious. When they play, they're running experiments and asking questions. If you have an education system that is more inclined to indoctrinate rather than encourage asking questions, then you're not going to get as much innovation. We stumbled onto this when making MythBusters. By being playful and destructive, it created a subversive element to what we were doing and it made people want to watch us more. We were just like children learning how to deal with the world. If you are methodical about it, then it's amazing what can be accomplished.