PULLMAN, Wash.–For his lifetime achievements in solving wood structure problems and helping educate the next generation of professionals in wood engineering, Robert J. Hoyle of Lewiston, Idaho, received the Wood Engineering Achievement Award at the July annual meeting of the International Forest Products Society in Vancouver, B.C.
Hoyle, professor emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington State University from 1969-85, devoted his attention to structural wood building material problems. Prior to coming to WSU, he developed the first continuous lumber-testing machine at the Potlatch Corporation. His research adventures included consulting on the building of a 13-mile wood frame tunnel under the Alaskan permafrost, evaluating the condition of an 18-mile wood railroad trestle across the Great Salt Lake as well as pilings on the Mississippi River levee system, and writing some lumber-grading rules for Costa Rica. As a member of the American Society for Testing Materials from 1960-85, Hoyle also contributed to ASTM standards.
As an educator, Hoyle wrote the classroom textbook “Wood Technology in the Design of Structures,” now in its fifth printing. He has taught many of the wood engineers in practice or academia today. Since his retirement from the university, he has been a part-time consultant.
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Photo enclosed. Hoyle may be contacted at 208/743-8379.
