TAPPI has announced its course schedule for the first quarter of 2011. It will include three TAPPI courses and one North Carolina State University course. The first courses – Introduction to Pulp and Paper and Kraft Recovery – are being offered January 10-13.

Taught by seasoned industry experts, these courses provide skill development and enhancement to professionals in the pulp, paper and converting industry. The courses include topic overviews, specific problem-solving sessions and solutions-oriented curriculum. The 2011 first quarter courses, their dates and locations include:

Introduction to Pulp and Paper Technology, January 10-13, St. Petersburg, Florida -- This course is ideal for anyone new to the pulp and paper industry. It offers a comprehensive overview of the entire pulping and papermaking process.

Kraft Recovery, January 10-13, St. Petersburg, Florida – The Kraft Recovery module is a thorough review of key recovery operations in kraft pulp mills. It is designed to help attendees improve pulp production efficiency ,minimize operating costs and reduce environmental impact.

Best Practices on the Corrugator, February 15-18, Norcross, Georgia – Through TAPPI Best Practices on the Corrugator, a range of plant employees will learn how to achieve higher productivity, better product quality and waste reduction during one comprehensive course.

Hands-On Workshop for Pulp and Paper Basics, March 14-18, NC State, Raleigh, NC --This hands-on workshop will provide a broad overview of Pulping, Bleaching, Chemical Recovery, Recycling, Papermaking and Converting. The 5-day course will consist of presentations in the morning and hands-on laboratory and pilot-plant exercises in the afternoon.

More information is available on the TAPPI courses website about the specifics of these offerings, including registration costs and deadlines.

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The world's leading pulp and paper event, SPCI, takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, May 17-19, 2011. For the 2011 event, the organisers, Adforum and the Swedish Paper Engineers Association, are introducing a brand new concept – The Magic Future of Pulp & Paper. The essence of the concept is simple but important – making it easier for people to meet.

The heart of the event will be the three squares in the hall. The squares will hold all major conference activities and entertainment during the three-day event. This means that the SPCI 2011 conference is free for all participants of the SPCI event. Each square will have a separate program and the three programs run simultaneously during the event, offering a variety of presentations for visitors and exhibitors.

The SPCI event in 2008 attracted almost 14,000 visitors from 61 countries making it the most international event in the industry. The booking and allocation of stands are already in progress. For more information and contact details, visit www.spcievent.com

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The University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation in Orono, Maine, recently distributed more than $262,000 in scholarship funds to engineering and forestry students interested in pulp and paper industry-related careers.

The fall 2010 semester scholarship recipients were announced at a Sept. 16 banquet attended by more than 80 students and 15 people who employ UMaine students through co-op programs or internships.

"The Pulp and Paper Foundation is a key resource for the future engineers of our industry," noted Dale Wibberly, Sappi Fine Paper North America's human resource manager at the event. "We are very excited about the quality of engineering students who have obtained their education from UMaine."

"Our scholarship budget in 2010 is more than $750,000, allowing us to support 90 students with full tuition scholarships – most of our scholarships are for engineering students, but several are targeted for forestry majors," added Jack Healy, the foundation's executive director. "The job market for engineers in the paper industry looks very strong over the next 10-15 years, primarily due to current engineers in our industry reaching retirement age."

The Pulp and Paper Foundation was founded in 1950 and has supported more than 3,000 students.
For more information about the Pulp and Paper Foundation Scholarship program visit www.mainepulpaper.org.

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Join industry experts, scientists, health and safety specialists, legal and government policy makers, and leading researchers June 6-8, 2011 in Arlington, Va., USA for the latest in nanotechnology research and development at the 2011 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials.

Formerly known as TAPPI's International Conference on Nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry, the title of this annual conference has been changed to reflect the advances in nanotechnology in renewable materials and their widespread applications in many other industries. The technical focus of the conference has been expanded to include other nanomaterials along with cellulose to fully embrace all nano-enabled biomaterials.

This year's conference theme is Nanotechnology for a Sustainable Future. You will find presentations focusing on several key thematic areas such as:
• Nanocellulosics and Nanocomposites
• Applications of Renewable Nanomaterials
• Nanostructured materials by Self Assembly
• Nanotech Coatings and Novel Nano-Enabled Functionalities
• Governmental & Environmental Issues

Abstracts are currently being accepted for this one-of-a-kind event. View the call for papers. Reduced conference rate available for speakers.

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The Call for Papers for the 2011 Progress in Paper Physics Seminar is underway.

Since 1980 the Progress in Paper Physics Seminar has been organized biannually by the TAPPI Paper Physics Committee. The 2011 event, taking place September 5-8 at Graz University of Technology in Graz, Austria, will cover all areas of fiber and paper physics, i.e. characterization, behavior and performance of fibers, papermaking processes and the final product. Both theoretical and applied research papers are welcomed. A poster session will provide the opportunity to discuss selected contributions peer-to-peer.

Learn more about the event and the call for papers. The deadline to submit is January 31, 2011.

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Sessions on sustainability, the environment and biorefineries drew a large number of attendees at 2010 TAPPI PEERS Conference and the 9th Research Forum on Recycling, held October 17-21 in Norfolk, Va. More than 370 forest and paper industry professionals participated in the four-day conference that also included a special Boiler MACT Town Hall Meeting. Attendees represented more than 30 paper companies and 20 universities from around the world and the exhibit hall showcased the latest technologies available to the marketplace from 23 companies.

Attendance was high at the Boiler MACT Town Hall and Committee meetings in anticipation of the upcoming US EPA announcement regarding new emission limits. Timothy Hunt of the American Forest and Paper Association cited estimates that the proposed new limits could cost the paper industry $4.5 billion and jeopardize as many as 72,000 jobs. Discussions centered on how the industry should react to the new limits. Among Hunt's suggestions for key fixes were setting the limits based on overall performance of actual sources, not a mythical boiler, and basing standards on the best performing 12 percent of sources, not "best of the best."

Another important gathering was a "Stickies Summit" in conjunction with the 9th Research Forum on Recycling. Co-organized by Mahendra Doshi of the TAPPI Journal editorial board and Danny Haynes with Eka Chemicals, the summit brought together recycling experts from Japan, U.S., Canada and Europe to discuss the need for global standardization of definitions related to stickies.

 
A discussion on company sustainability efforts and how they impact business was a popular panel session, as were sessions on hemicellulose extraction and pulp mill repurposing for ethanol production, which was led by TAPPI Journal editorial board member Peter Hart.

The 2011 TAPPI PEERS Conference is slated for October 2-5 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., USA. Abstracts are now being accepted and a formal call for papers will be issued in early 2011.

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Staying in touch with business colleagues continues to evolve at dizzying speeds. To provide members of the TAPPI community with a way to communicate on the go, TAPPI has created a foundation of social media tools to help you.

You can keep in touch with TAPPI news and events electronically with the TAPPI LinkedIn page. It's open to all TAPPI members. All you need to do is sign in to your LinkedIn account and search for the TAPPI Member Group. Members have started a number of useful discussions on the page, and currently there are about 450 members in the group.. Why don't you join in? Visit www.LinkedIn.com and find out what all the buzz is about!

TAPPI has a Facebook group called "Peace, Love, and Paper." It's new so you can be among the first people to "like" the page or join the group and enter a post on the Peace, Love and Paper wall. Participants in this group are committed to revolutionizing the paper industry. Visit www.facebook.com. Search for Peace, Love, and Paper then click "join group". You'll then be part of the "in" crowd.

You can also get the latest TAPPI news via Twitter. Sign up to follow TAPPI's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/TAPPITWEETS.

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The TAPPI/PIMA 2011 Student Summit will take place January 15-17 in Kingsport, Tenn. It will draw students from around the country to focus on "New Directions" and promising developments in the pulp and paper industry.

Attending students can meet with experienced industry professionals, interview for jobs, participate in a fun engineering competition and get to know fellow students. The event will include a range of valuable experiences including:

•  a mill tour of Domtar
• a presentation on Biofuels
• a Mill Manager Roundtable and
• focused sessions on a variety of important topics.

Learn more about the TAPPI/PIMA 2011 Student Summit.

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