Theodore Wegner is acting director of the United States (U.S.) Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. He earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin and received his master of science and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois. Prior to joining the Forest Service in 1977, he worked for E. I. DuPont. Ted is a Fellow of the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry and is a member of the Forest Products Society, The Society of Wood Science and Technology, the Pulp and Paper Education and Research Alliance, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the Materials Research Society, Sigma Xi Research Society, and Alpha Chi Sigma—Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Fraternity. He also served on the Forestry Research Advisory Committee of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Ted has been a leader in advancing nanotechnology within the U.S. forest products industry. He co-chaired the first U.S. workshop on nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry and is co-editor of “Nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry: Vision and Technology Roadmap.” He was co-chair of the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011 International Conferences on Nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry. He serves as Forest Service representative on the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Ted has been a leader in defining the U.S. Forest Service research agenda for the forest biorefinery and forest biomass to liquid transportation fuels. He served as the Forest Service lead on a consortium developing the science and technologies needed to economically produce ethanol from woodchips extracted prior to pulping. He directs Forest Service R&D on cellulosic ethanol production from forest biomass; serves as Forest Service lead in a biorefinery deployment consortium; and served on the organizing committee for an international forest biorefinery conference.