It’s a sticky problem that Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) researcher Juliet Tang in collaboration with faculty member Hyungsuk Lim and graduate students from the Department of Sustainable Bioproducts, Mississippi State University, find themselves researching.

The team is brainstorming innovative ways to make the building material of the future—mass timber—more versatile. But in order to do that, they have to find an adhesive and a preservative, two substances that tend to be uncooperative together when used on timber, that will work concurrently for optimal bond strength and durability.