2013 Starker Lecture Series, Lecture 1. The forest products industry in the U.S. and North America is a mature commodity industry with high capital costs and low profit margins. But with its expertise in sustainable forestry and processing technology for lignocellulosic biomass, the industry has much to offer in the development of sustainable, integrated biorefineries. Dr. Shri Ramaswamy is Professor, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, and also a graduate faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, both at the University of Minnesota.