PULLMAN, Wash. — Thomas M. Maloney, director emeritus of the Wood Materials and
Engineering Laboratory at Washington State University, received the WSU Alumni
Achievement Award Aug. 16. The recognized authority on particleboard was honored for his
four decades of WSU service and work improving materials and people’s standard of living
worldwide.
Maloney retired from WSU in 1995 after 39 years. Thirty-four years ago, he originated the
Composite Materials Symposium, which now draws 500 attendees from numerous countries to
Pullman annually.
The 1956 WSU industrial arts graduate consulted for scores of companies, governments and
agencies needing advice about wood. He built the WMEL into a world-renowned resource to the
wood product industry — helping countries develop better standards for housing, builders
determine the best structures, particleboard companies build plants, and providing the latest
research for those needing new-age or superior performing composites and glues.
Maloney has written more than 400 research reports, technical articles and book chapters.
He has been an invited speaker in 15 countries, and received awards from many wood-related
organizations.
He won WSU’s first Faculty Excellence Award for Public Service in 1983 and became the first
Weyerhaeuser Distinguished Professor of Wood Science at WSU in 1994. In 1996, the Louisiana
Pacific Corp. established a second Distinguished Professorship, recognizing Maloney’s career
contributions.
He was president of the International Forest Products Research Society, the International
Society of Wood Science and Technology, and is a Fellow of the International Academy of
Wood Science.
The Raymond native grew up in a construction family, and continues to live in Pullman with
his wife, Donna.
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