Affordable housing drives CNRE undergrad's research

My name is Justin Brandt. I'm an undergraduate student in the College of Natural Resources and Environment. My fellowship began last year when I was a sophomore. I just really enjoyed learning about sustainable biomaterials, definitely wood. And through all this, I learned about a building material called cross laminated timber, which is CLT. And it's wooden plies, thick plies, and they're folded over each other. It makes the wood really strong, makes it a great building material. Since it is such a solid material, it's often hard to hide wiring in it. What I discovered and what I wanted to research more is what if we included hollow chases going through the CLT panels. I was thinking about how I can maintain integrity, maintain the physical properties. Since I am studying sustainable bio materials, I look towards another biomaterial, and that being bamboo. What I was testing today is I was seeing if the CLT panels fitted with the bamboo maintain structural integrity, or if it does lose mechanical value. I want to focus more on lower income housing. Making more affordable homes. sustainable bio materials is definitely the way to go, which is why I want to keep on researching and keep on testing with them. I feel like with Virginia Tech, especially in the CNRE, they offer a lot of experiences to their students. All you have to do is go and ask. And I'm super thankful that I was able to have this opportunity and I'm very grateful that I was able to pull it all together.