Franklin Zambrano Wins Grand Prize at The College of Natural Resources Research Symposium

Forest Biomaterials Ph.D. student Franklin Zambrano says his chosen research focus comes from a passion to use  the always-wise Mother Nature’s resources in an informed, smart way.  His dedication won him the Grand Prize at the 2019 CNR Graduate Research Symposium in the poster competition. Franklin’s work, “Application of Micro- and Nanofibrillated Cellulose (MNFC) in Hygiene Tissue Products” explores the quality of micro- and nanofibrillated cellulose as an alternative additive in hygiene products, particularly tissue paper. 

Further, his research focuses on the science behind hygiene tissue products made with wood fibers, including the upgrade of product properties with cellulose-based nanomaterials and development of technologies to decrease manufacturing costs through strategies for fiber reduction. He says it’s imperative to understand how different variables can affect the product performance, for example, the softness of bath tissue or the water absorbency of kitchen towels.

Franklin holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes in Venezuela. He belongs to the Tissue Pack Innovation Lab, a recently formed state-of-the-art tissue laboratory that is also involved in the study of the dynamics and market trends driving the hygiene tissue industry in the U.S.

How did this experience impact you?

The CNR Graduate Research Symposium gave me one of the very first opportunities to showcase my research outside my research group. As typically happens with first times, one has lots of expectations and also insecurities about the work you are doing, but once you are out there on the floor is when actually all those insecurities turn into strength, and you start explaining your work to your peers in ways you could not even imagine. This gives you a lot of confidence and makes you confirm that what you do is attractive to people and can have a much more significant impact that you could possibly envision.

What did you learn about yourself during your experience?

The most important learning I had from this experience is that passion can be contagious. I am very enthusiastic about what I do, and I could notice that by putting this passion into my speech, people were asking a lot of questions and seemed to be engaged and interested in what I was describing. This also reflects that whenever you do something that you like, things turn out to be easier.

How did this opportunity enhance your experience as a College of Natural Resources student?

Participating in the CNR Graduate Research Symposium allowed me to get feedback from people outside the Department of Forest Biomaterials, including faculty and students. As researchers, especially working on product development, sometimes we get caught up in technical details that are too specific to our problem. We end up missing the big picture, and which is more important, we forget that at the end of the day people are the one who are going to be using our product and that these small details might not be relevant at all. This is why it was exciting for me to hear comments and opinions from people from other fields, who picture things completely different than I do.

Why was participating in this experience important to you?

After having worked for over one year in this project, I really wanted to showcase my research and definitely get feedback from people outside my field. Especially because my research is oriented to consumer good products (hygienic tissue paper), I found very important to see people’s perception when you tell them that you are trying to upgrade a product that they are very familiar with as they probably use it every single day.

What did you enjoy most about your experience?

The networking was awesome. I had the opportunity to get to know what other people in the College of Natural Resources are working on. Also, this was an excellent venue to improve my communication skills and broaden my knowledge. And of course, the travel award for winning the first place in the poster competition was great. I just returned from Milan (Italy), where I attended the world’s largest dedicated tissue conference and trade show.

What did you find most challenging about your experience?

One of the major challenges I had was to convey information to people that were not necessarily familiar with the topic. Fortunately, everybody knows toilet paper. So, in the middle of the explanation I let technicisms aside, took a roll of bath tissue in my hands and started showing them with the actual product what I was trying to accomplish with my research. This not only engaged the audience but also gave me extra confidence, and made me realize that when going from the laboratory to the actual communication of our findings we as researchers need to rethink how to convey information more effectively.

Why would you recommend this experience to other students? Any advice to incoming students?

The CNR Graduate Research Symposium is an excellent opportunity to showcase your research, to meet other graduate students, and also to get to know what other people are doing within the college. Also, winning an award can be rather satisfactory and gives you significant opportunities as traveling to conferences inside the U.S. and overseas.

Have you completed any other internships, undergraduate research, study abroad or other hands-on experiences? 

I was a Rotary International exchange student in Germany between 2009 and 2010. This experience gave me pretty good exposure to new customs and ways of doing things, and above all, taught me how to fit in and quickly adapt to many different situations where aspects as the language can be a barrier. The major outcome from my exchange year is that right now I can say that I have a German family (my host family) and friends all over the world. Also, this multicultural experience made my transition of coming from Venezuela to the U.S. for my Ph.D. very smooth.

What do you enjoy most about being a College of Natural Resources student?

At CNR we have a splendid multicultural group, very knowledgeable and with the best sense of humor. I think that by saying that CNR feels like family to me, summarizes very well why I extremely enjoy being a CNR student.