Dr. Jim Bowyer is Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. He is an Elected Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science; President of Bowyer & Associates, Inc. – a consulting firm focused on helping organizations to improve their environmental performance; and Director of the Responsible Materials Program in Dovetail Partners, Inc. – a nonprofit organization that provides authoritative information about the impacts and trade-offs of environmental decisions, including consumption choices, land use, and policy alternatives.

Dr. Bowyer has served as President of the Forest Products Society (1993-94) and of the Society of Wood Science and Technology (1987-88), Vice President of the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (1992-2003), Chairman of the Tropical Forest Foundation (2002-2008), and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Temperate Forest Foundation (1992-2010). He was Head of the University of Minnesota's Department of Wood & Paper Science from 1984 to 1994, and Founder and Director of the Forest Products Management Development Institute at the University of Minnesota (an organization dedicated to education and development of industry professionals) from 1994-2003.

Dr. Bowyer earned a BS degree in forest management from Oklahoma State University (1964), a MS in forest products from Michigan State University (1966), and a PhD in wood science in technology from the University of Minnesota (1973). He has published widely on the topics of wood and fiber science, bioenergy, life cycle assessment, green building standards, and environmental policy and is a frequent speaker nationally and internationally on these topics.

He is also coauthor of the leading introductory wood science textbook in North America Forest Products and Wood Science – an Introduction, now in its 5th edition (2007), and of the widely used CD-ROM The Nature of Wood and Wood Products.