Organizing Committee

James leads UBC’s Faculty of Applied Science as its Dean. His 30 years as researcher, innovator, engineer and administrator keep expanding to bridge industry, government and academia as well as new research interests in energy reduction and novel bioproducts.

Mark serves as Research Manager in the Market Pulp division of FPInnovations.

Christer divides his professional time working 75% as a R&D Specialist in the Paper Product Development team at Holmen Paper, Sweden, and 25% as project manager at FSCN Mid Sweden University. His primary skills are in the areas of high and low consistency refining, fibre fractionation and process technology.

George has served Irving Paper for 28 years, initially filling the roles of Environmental Engineer and Technical Services Superintendent before joining the TMP Operations team. George has held positions from TMP Process Engineer to TMP Manager, and is currently a Senior Operations Specialist.

Guigan Fang is a world leader in the research and engineering development of high-yield pulping and high efficient effluent water treatment. Guigan works at the Institute of Chemical Industry of Forestry Products in Nanjing.

Mark D. Martinez holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UBC, and a Docent in Paper Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Mark is Director of the Pulp and Paper Centre, a research facility at UBC. He also serves as Director of the Advanced Papermaking Initiative. Mark’s primary research area is fluid mechanics of fibre suspensions.

Thomas graduated with an M.Sc in Chemical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology. He worked in research capacities with Sunds Defibrator, Metso and Valmet in various positions with a special interest in hardwood CTMP, chips impregnation and pulp bleaching. His current designation is global R&D manager for high yield pulping at Valmet. Thomas also serves as adjunct professor at FSCN, Mid Sweden University.