WIST LogoUWSp logo
Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology
April 2011
Research, Education, and Laboratory Services
 

pilot paper machineThrough its three divisions, WIST offers laboratory services, outreach education, and research to create sustainability solutions for businesses and organizations. Technology and ideas developed by WIST and its partners will spur economic growth in Wisconsin and the region and help all of us preserve and protect a healthy environment for future generations.


Follow-up Links

Greetings!

WIST has been busy as ever, with outreach from Europe to Wisconsin, as you'll note in the brief stories below. Thank you for your continued interest in the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology.
  
Best regards,
Paul Fowler
Executive Director

WIST research
gains attention in Europe

Eric Singsaas, WIST Director of Research, recently met with a chemical company in Europe interested in WIST research on biomaterials. Watch Eric discuss the meeting in this short video.

Papermaking course puts students in control
Kelly Klaas, right, explains machine settings.
Kelly Klaas, right, explains machine settings. Click image to view more photos.

WIST's popular hands-on papermaking course recently put 17 students in control of the the WIST pilot paper machine  -- under the watchful eye of instructors Kelly Klaas, WIST laboratory manager, and Karyn Biasca, UWSP professor of paper science and engineering. The two-day course, March 31-April 1, combined classroom instruction with machine runs that put finished paper on the roller.

Klaas said most of the students in these WIST classes aren't typical paper machine operators, but rather people from other departments within a paper company.

"I think what they bring back is a new sense of team work and better communication," Klaas said. "They also have a better understanding of what it takes to run a machine and what the machine tenders have to go through in their daily jobs, so it can be very eye opening for a maintenance person to actually run a machine. It gives them a more compassionate understanding when things go wrong and need to be fixed, because they have a better understanding of the whole process."

WIST's pilot paper machine is 
a fourdrinier machine capable of production runs as well as research and development studies. Another session of the hands on course may be offered this fall -- check the WIST website for updates or contact Kelly Klaas to be placed on a waiting/notification list.
WIST is on Facebook, Twitter

For latest updates on WIST activities, you can now find us at a number of social media applications. You can become a fan of WIST on facebook. And you can now follow WIST on Twitter as well -- @wistuwsp. You can follow WIST Director Paul Fowler, also -- @pafowler.

Paul Fowler to address
NCASI conference

WIST Director Paul Fowler will discuss the insitute's mission and opportunities for sustainable economic development at the 2011 Northern Regional Meeting of the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI), to be held in Wausau on May 18 and 19. NCASI is an independent, non-profit technical organization focusing on environmental issues of the forest products industry. 

  

Fowler's presentation, "'Sustainability solutions: Economic opportunities, Environmental gains,"  is scheduled for the afternoon of May 19 in a session on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability. 

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