Experience and Innovation in Action
#1 Public School in the Southeast
for studying natural resources and conservation by College Factual
#1 Best Value
NC State is the best public university for your money in North Carolina by Money Magazine
Leaders in Sustainability and Applied Research
NC State’s College of Natural Resources is ranked among the nation’s top programs in forestry, environmental sciences and paper science and engineering. Our graduates are leaders in conservation, renewable materials and sustainable resource management.
Recently, the NC State Natural Resources Foundation, Inc. hosted the ninth annual “Fore the Pack” Scholarship Golf Tournament. 🏌️⛳
Proceeds from the tournament support scholarships for students in our professional golf management and paper science and engineering programs. The event included 18 holes of golf, a catered breakfast, post-round BBQ and a shotgun start.
A big thank you to all of our sponsors — Platinum: Packaging Corporation of America; Gold: Valmet, Nicholson Resource Group, Andritz, International Paper and Pratt Industries.
📸 : Highlights from the tournament at Lonnie Poole Golf Course.
The College of Natural Resources’ Dr. Rico Ruffino and his students have been hard at work this year, building more furniture for our new Floating Grove.
Ruffino partnered with Trashy to outfit The Floating Grove with sustainable furniture. Based in Raleigh and founded by NC State alum Laura Olson ‘23, Trashy incorporates Styrofoam and glass into concrete products.
Using leftover cross-laminated timber panels, Ruffino and students from the Sustainable Design Lab created the wood bases for the tables and stools. Olson and her team at Trashy created concrete seats and tops for the furniture pieces.
Trashy utilized 300 pounds of Styrofoam collected by NC State Waste Reduction and Recycling during the fall 2025 student move-in process, densifying and grounding it into an aggregate before sending it to a manufacturing partner to be integrated into concrete.
📸: Inside the Hodges Wood Products Lab, Dr. Rico Ruffino and sustainable materials and technology students Haley Hartman `28 and Justyn Wallace `26 work on the latest installation of furniture.
Recently, the the Sustainable Materials and Technology Student Association (@smtsa_) represented the College of Natural Resources at Shack-a-Thon. ♻️ 🐺 🐾
Their shack at Wolf Plaza was focused on sustainability, with modular sections that can be taken apart and saved for next year. During the week, they sold handmade items from Hodges Wood Products Lab to support Habitat for Humanity.
Sponsors included Huber Engineered Woods, Weyerhaeuser, Sharper Image Builders and Columbia Forest Products.
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