ATLANTA, March 29, 2002 -- A major new initiative at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) is designed to make the Institute more responsive to industry needs. The recently completed Pathways Project, created with input from key industrial stakeholders, developed new strategic directions aimed at aligning IPST efforts more closely with the needs of the pulp and paper industry.

Some of the changes resulting from this project include an increased emphasis on business in academics and research, a renewed research focus on the strategic needs of the industry, including development of breakthrough technologies, and increased opportunities for technology transfer to its members.

One of the most exciting Pathways initiatives is the creation of elective research consortia in which each member company joins with others with similar strategic interests to create pre-competitive research programs tailored specifically to meet their needs. This unique approach gives members an opportunity to fund only the research they wish to support at the Institute.

IPST president Dr. Jim Ferris spoke of the value of this approach: "In transitioning to elective consortia research, we have created a 'marketplace' where individual companies come together to define pre-competitive research needs and join with those with similar interests to achieve the needed results in a cost-efficient manner."

"The balloting process by which companies direct funding to specific research programs is going extremely well," noted John Hanby, vice president of technology for Potlatch Corporation and current chair of the IPST Results Assurance Committee. "The elective research concept has created a new level of interest and excitement because of its high potential for transferring investments in research into commercial advances," he said.

Another key element of the new Pathways Project is a focus on four centers, each of which will add products of significant value to the Institute's member companies. The four centers are the Graduate School of Paper Science and Engineering, the Center for Research and Technology Transfer, the Haselton Library and Knowledge Center, and the stand-alone, joint venture center with Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) and the Sloan Foundation -- the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies.

The Graduate School of Paper Science and Engineering has the mission to create a technical and business academic program that is globally recognized as the premier center for graduate education for those interested in technical and business leadership of the global paper industry. This will be achieved, in part, through our partnership with GIT by creating several endowed teaching professorships, dual degree programs, and joint faculty appointments.

The second center is the Research and Technology Transfer Center, which has the mission to speed the creation and delivery of needed research results and technologies that address issues of major strategic and financial importance to the paper industry.

The IPST Haselton Library and Knowledge Center is being upgraded to provide a number of new services. The new center will include efficient on-line learning resources that will help member companies access the information they need to improve business performance. These enhancements will allow the creation of a virtual community in which industry research consortia can interact, communicate, and share knowledge. Tyler Walters, manager of the Haselton Library and Knowledge Center, says the new organizational structure and improvements will make the Haselton Library "more valuable than ever" for its customers.

The final center, the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS), combines the resources of IPST and GIT's DuPree College of Management and Ivan Allen College [of liberal arts]. Created in 2000 with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, work at the new IPST/GIT collaborative center concentrates on the business fundamentals impacting the U.S. paper industry while generating focused research. "The center will become a place where we seek to completely understand the industry, while providing high quality research with practical outcomes," said Dr. Jim McNutt, executive director of CPBIS.

Both the IPST Board of Trustees and industry stakeholders have endorsed the new Pathways Project. "I am very pleased with the direction this is taking the Institute," Dr. Ferris said. "The changes we are designing will build a stronger, more adaptable, and more vital Institute for the industry of tomorrow."