UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Engineering student wins national award

The Wood Innovation Research Laboratory in downtown Prince George is home to Houman Ganjali's award-winning research into point supported cross-laminated timber.

When PhD student Houman Ganjali takes a break from his projects at the Wood Innovation Research Laboratory, he turns to natural philosophy and finds inspiration in the words of the late theoretical physicist Dr. Richard Feynman, "there is pleasure in finding things out." 

What Houman is focused on is to figure out  how we can incorporate point supported cross-laminated timber (CLT), into building designs in new and innovative ways. 

Recently, Houman earned the Catherine Lalonde Memorial Scholarship, a prestigious national scholarship from the Canadian Wood Council recognizing both academic excellence and innovative research in sustainable construction. The highly competitive award is open to master's and doctoral students across Canada and recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of wood engineering. 

"I am truly honored to receive this reputable award," Houman says. "Although I received the recognition, this achievement would not have been possible without the technical supervision and mentorship of my supervisor, (Engineering Professor) Dr. Thomas Tannert, and the ongoing support from the outstanding teams at UNBC and the UNBC Wood Innovation Research Laboratory (WIRL)." 

The scholarship will support Houman's continued research into CLT, an engineered wood product increasingly used in multi-story buildings mainly for floor applications. CLT offers environmental advantages over traditional construction materials, but current building codes lack clear guidance for some newer design approaches. 

At UNBC, Houman is testing point supported CLT floor panels to better understand their resistance and failure behaviour. The goal is to develop practical, easy-to-use design rules that engineers can apply when designing safe, efficient timber buildings. 

"This structural system is in high demand globally, but design standards have not kept pace," he says. "Through this research, we are proposing new provisions for CSA O86, the Canadian standard for engineering design in wood, for inclusion in the next edition." 

Central to this work is the state-of-the-art WIRL facility, located in downtown Prince George, where Houman completes all of his research and testing. 

"WIRL is the heart of my research," Houman says. "It's where experimental results are translated into the equations and design tools used by structural engineers." 

The decision to pursue doctoral studies at UNBC was driven by both the opportunity to work with Dr. Tannert and access to the specialized facilities at WIRL, resources that have now helped position his research on a national stage. 

"This award reinforces that meaningful, impactful research can happen at a small University in the North," Houman says. "And that UNBC is capable of doing big things."