People

Researchers, students, and collaborators

Meet the faculty, students, and alumni who make up the lab’s research community.

Principal investigator

Faculty leadership and research direction.

Dr. Jason Tyler Street

Interim Head · Associate Professor

Dr. Street leads MSU Wood AI and serves as Interim Head and Associate Professor in Mississippi State University’s Department of Sustainable Bioproducts. His work spans sustainable materials, engineered wood products, artificial intelligence, transport modeling, and renewable energy systems.

Bio-based composites and engineered wood products
AI and machine learning in materials research
Moisture and thermal transport modeling
Renewable and alternative energy systems

Education

Ph.D. in Engineering, Mississippi State University
M.S. in Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University
B.S. in Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University

Email 662-325-5120 Room 5204, Forest Products Laboratory

Official MSU profile

PhD students

Doctoral researchers advancing the lab’s core programs.

Tilak Neupane

Graduate Research Assistant · PhD in Sustainable Bioproducts

Tilak Neupane is a final-year PhD student in the Department of Sustainable Bioproducts. His research applies machine learning and deep learning to assess wood properties, including wood chip moisture content and the mechanical properties of tree logs. He earned an MS in Forestry from the University of Georgia.

Artificial intelligence and computer vision for wood quality assessment
Moisture content prediction
Hyperspectral imaging
Nondestructive evaluation

Master’s students

Graduate students contributing to current research projects.

Benjamin Wiley

Graduate Research Assistant · M.S. in Sustainable Bioproducts and MBA

Benjamin Wiley is a graduate research assistant and dual M.S. in Sustainable Bioproducts and MBA candidate at Mississippi State University. His work examines biomass residuals for alternative-energy systems and develops machine-learning and computer-vision models to estimate biomass strength, appearance, and composition.

Machine learning and computer vision for biomass
Biomass residual utilization
Alternative energy systems
Life-cycle assessment

Madeline Gnann

Graduate Research Assistant · M.S. in Sustainable Bioproducts

Madeline Gnann is a graduate research assistant pursuing an M.S. in Sustainable Bioproducts after earning her B.S. in Sustainable Bioproducts at Mississippi State University. Her laboratory experience includes chemical analysis and wood identification.

Sustainable bioproducts
Wood identification
Chemical laboratory methods

Undergraduate researchers

Students developing research experience with the lab.

Bibek Bhatta

Undergraduate Student · Mechanical Engineering

Bibek Bhatta is an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student at Mississippi State University. His experience includes organizing a NASA Space Apps Challenge event and teaching introductory machine-learning concepts to participants.

Machine learning
Mechanical engineering
Technical education and outreach

LinkedIn Personal website

Niraj Gupta

Undergraduate Researcher · Computer Science

Niraj Gupta is an undergraduate Computer Science student at Mississippi State University whose work focuses on artificial intelligence. His research experience includes deep-learning image classification, computer vision for wood-material analysis, and growth-ring prediction.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Computer vision and image classification
Deep learning for forest products
Large language models

LinkedIn Personal website

Quinton Wiley

Undergraduate Researcher · Sustainable Bioproducts and Natural Resources

Quinton Wiley is an undergraduate researcher whose interests connect sustainability and conservation with sustainable-product development. He has participated in the Sustainable Bioproducts REU and previously served as a research assistant in Mississippi State University’s College of Forest Resources.

Sustainability and conservation
Environmental research
Sustainable-product development
Laboratory research

Alumni

Former lab members and their current roles or destinations.

Ethan Turo

Laboratory Technician · Huber Engineered Woods

Ethan Turo is an MSU Wood AI alumnus with M.S. and B.S. degrees in Sustainable Bioproducts from Mississippi State University. His research involved testing the mechanical and physical properties of wood and engineered wood products and analyzing the resulting data. He is now a laboratory technician at Huber Engineered Woods.

Engineered wood products
Wood materials testing
Statistical data analysis
Computer vision