ATLANTA, Georgia (October 3, 2000) - The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced today that its Board of Trustees has approved the funding of its sixteenth Center for Industry Studies. The latest Center will study the Paper Industry and will be called the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS). The new CPBIS will direct the industry-focused business schools from the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) and the technical capabilities of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) on the specific, current needs of the paper industry.

The new Center will concentrate on business fundamentals impacting the global paper industry and will generate focused research and produce experts in the paper industry. The Sloan Foundation grant for over $2 million, which will be complimented by direct industry-based funding, will create an academic community that studies business issues and needs central to the paper industry. To date, even before Sloan Foundation funding was announced, 20 companies have pledged over $800,000 to support the Center's research.

At present, there are 15 other Sloan Foundation supported Industry Studies Centers at 12 universities, covering a wide area of the manufacturing and service sectors of the American economy. Since the beginning of this program in 1990, well over 400 faculty members and at least that many graduate students have taken part in the Sloan Foundation Centers' programs. There have been at least 250 Ph.D.s produced, of which most have gone on to other academic positions to continue work on issues of their industry, some of whom have entered into key management positions within their respective industry sectors.

The objectives of the Sloan Foundation Industry Centers' program are to create an academic community that understands a particular industry and to encourage a direct approach to data collection and observation through contact with the companies and people from that industry. The Sloan Foundation has determined that observation-based work by well-informed academics will, in the long run, lead to practical contributions to the industries, which are studied.

The new Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies will originally focus on five areas of interest to the paper industry today. The academic community will study issues of globalization, commercialization, community interactions, workplace transformation, and enterprise effectiveness. Faculty from the Georgia Tech DuPree College of Management, the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College, and the Institute of Paper Science and Technology will all contribute to the success of the Center.

Dr. Sue Rosser, Dean of the Ivan Allen College, says, "The DuPree College and the Ivan Allen College have unique resources in areas of great importance to the paper industry. From Operations Management to Industrial Systems Engineering, and from Business History, Industrial Sociology, and Public Policy, we have the depth of skill and experience to contribute to this important industry. Over 85 faculty members at Georgia Tech and IPST participated in the creation of the proposal to the Sloan Foundation. We are looking forward to making significant contributions through this Center."

Dr. Tom McDonough, a Senior Research Fellow at IPST, will be the Center's Director, and Dr. James McNutt will be the Executive Director. Dr. McNutt was formerly the CEO of Jaakko Pöyry Consulting, North America, a major consulting firm for the paper industry. Dr. McNutt and Dr. Tom McDonough have spearheaded this project, and both are integral to its success.

Dr. James Ferris, President of IPST, says, "Tom McDonough and Jim McNutt are key to the success of this new Center for our industry. Tom has the technical and academic experience to develop this Center so it will provide the academic perspective needed to supply value to our industry. Jim McNutt has the academic credentials as well as the real-world experience that is needed to make this an extremely valuable, knowledge-based pragmatic resource for the Paper Industry. Between the two of them, and with the creation of the CPBIS, we are in an extremely strong position to supply a completely new value-added service to our members and the Paper Industry as a whole."

For more information contact David Bell at David.Bell@ipst.gatech.edu.