Stavros Avramidis
Stavros Avramidis, born April 6, 1958 in Kavala, Greece, is a Greek-Canadian wood scientist and professor at the University of British Columbia. He serves as president of the International Academy of Wood Science for 2023–2026 and is a fellow of IAWS (since 2008).
He grew up in Thessaloniki and earned a BSc in Forestry from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1981. He then pursued graduate studies in the United States at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, earning an MSc (1982–1983) and a PhD (1983–1986) in biopolymer physics under John F. Siau.
Avramidis began his career at UBC in 1987 as an assistant professor in the Department of Wood Science. After military service in Greece from 1988 to 1990, he returned to UBC and was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and full professor in 1998. He has led UBC’s Department of Wood Science since 2016.
His research focuses on the drying of wood and its physical properties, with practical applications to the Canadian wood industry. He uses acoustic, electrical, optical, and radio wave techniques, as well as simulations and artificial intelligence, to improve energy efficiency and upgrade production methods. He has published over 250 scientific articles and more than 100 industry studies, with thousands of citations.
He has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including Wood Material Science and Engineering (since 2012). He received the IAWS Fellowship in 2008 and the Ternryd Award in 2022. In 2023 he was elected president of the IAWS for 2023–2026. A Stanford metaresearch study published in 2023 placed him among the top 2% of researchers in wood physics, and he has continued to receive international recognition in 2024–2025. By January 2026, his work had more than 4,800 Google Scholar citations and more than 3,400 Scopus citations.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:06 (CET).