Sandra Lupien
Sandra Lupien is the Director of MassTimber@MSU, a program at Michigan State University that harnesses outreach, communications, research, education, and partnerships to advance mass timber construction and manufacture in Michigan and the surrounding region. Sandra has two decades of diverse policy, communications, external affairs, and leadership experience in the non-profit, public, and private sectors, most of it working at the intersection of climate change, natural resource policy, and equitable and sustainable community development.
While pursuing a mid-career Master of Public Policy at University of California Berkeley, Sandra caught the mass timber bug in 2016, which led her to do at least three things: 1) research what it would take to pivot her small beetle-kill pine furniture company to mass timber manufacturer; 2) to write her Master’s thesis “Removing Barriers to Cross-Laminated Timber Manufacture and Adoption in California: A gamechanger for forests, wildfire, and climate;” and 3) to seize the opportunity to harness her knowledge and passion to help advance mass timber construction and manufacture in Michigan – her home state – in this new position at MSU.
Before joining MSU in July of 2021, Sandra served as Deputy Director for External Affairs and Communications in the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the California Strategic Growth Council.
Relevant Research
Identifying Market Interests and Opportunities for Sierra Nevada Sustainable Forestry Materials
In the News
MSU Mass Timber STEM facility wins Forest Stewardship Council Leadership Award
Mass timber: How MSU's STEM building utilized new sustainable wood product
State of the State Podcast; Redistricting, Re-Inflation, Re-Engineering
Related Work
-
National Science Foundation Awards MSU $650K to Develop Mass Timber Curriculum
Published on May 27, 2022
-
Director of MassTimber@MSU, Sandra Lupien, named a Notable Leader in Sustainability by Crain’s Detroit Business
Published on March 23, 2022
-
MassTimber@MSU
Published on February 1, 2022
-
New Faces in the Department of Forestry in 2021
Published on February 1, 2022
-
MSU Mass Timber STEM facility wins Forest Stewardship Council Leadership Award
Published on October 25, 2021