Wood science integrates general material science with several branches of engineering to solve problems related to the manufacture and processing of forest products. Along with its focus on products, such as lumber and veneer for furniture, woodbased composites, reconstituted wood, and paper, the discipline has expanded to encompass these as a way of more efficiently using and therefore preserving forest resources.

Graduate study in wood science at MSU combines studies in forestry with complementary studies in engineering. Research is frequently conducted in cooperation with the Composite Materials and Structures Center of the MSU College of Engineering. Faculty and graduate student research has explored the use of recycled newsprint as furnish for wood composition board, the mechanism of hygroscopic distortions of laminated panels and other wood-based composites, and laser cutting of wood.