Denes, Levente

Since he entered the area of wood science and technology, Levente Denes has been fully devoted to developing new and innovative wood-based products and processing technologies. With five years of industrial and twenty years of academic experience Levente Denes has been part of many important natural resources related research, curricula development and industrial projects. He specialized in wood composites, furniture design and manufacturing, and possesses a strong engineering background for converting the bioresources into value-added products. His current researches are oriented towards hardwood cross laminated timber, additive manufacturing of biomaterials, converting the underutilized, low grade Applachian hardwoods into sustainable value-added products.

Levente Denes graduated from the Faculty of Wood Engineering, Transylvania University of Brasov, Romania and completed his PhD studies at the University of Sopron, Hungary. His thesis project described the development of a new structural wood composite product group from veneer waste using the design of experiments and response surface methodology. The study resulted in two patent application. 

Before joining the School of Natural Resources, West Virginia University as Associate Professor in Sustainable Biomaterials Dr. Denes worked as Associate Professor at the University of Sopron.

He also served as Department Head of the Institute of Product Development and Manufacturing Technologies (2009-2013) and Associate Dean for Research and International Relations in the Faculty of Wood Engineering and Creative Industries, Sopron, Hungary (2015-2018). In the last two years he worked also as R&D&I Manager for the Transylvanian Furniture Cluster, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Dr. Denes' research interests are related to the sustainable utilization of wood and wood-based materials, product development, hybrid wood composites, furniture design and manufacturing technologies, and more recently the additive manufacturing technologies of biomaterials. He has co-authored over 100 scientific and technical publications, leaded or participated in several research projects in the wood science domain, filed six patent applications. In his new position he teaches subjects related to physical properties of wood, building materials and sustainable construction, wood machining and develops currently a new course in additive manufacturing of biomaterials.

Dr. Denes' professional and personal activities are governed by the slogan he formulated several years ago when he used to be the coordinator of the University of Sopron's Industrial Design BSc and MSc programs: “The value is the measure, the measure is the value.”