Carrying on the Wood Science Legacy

Doctoral program advisors are considered pseudo-parents (aka “doctor father” or “doctor mother”) in some cultures, like the very traditional German academic system.

Wolfgang Glasser, professor emeritus of wood science and forest products, who currently holds a Mercator Guest Professorship at Germany’s Albert Ludwig University Freiberg, is currently working with doctoral student Danny Garcia-Marrero on a tannin utilization project.

Garcia-Marrero is carrying out his dissertation at the university’s Institute for Forest Utilization under the directorship of Professor Marie-Pierre Laborie (’02 Ph.D.). Laborie studied at Virginia Tech under the advisement of Professor Chip Frazier (’92 Ph.D.), who, in turn, was advised by Glasser, earning Glasser at least part of the great-grand (doctor) parenthood of Danny Garcia-Marrero — and making him feel really old!

Garcia-Marrero, who hails from Cuba, is also working on a project involving another alum, Professor Milan Sernek (’00 Ph.D.) of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Professor A. (Tony) Pizzi of the University of Nancy in France.