French TAPPI student chapter launched.

The 11th International Symposium on Wood and Pulping Chemistry in Nice, France, was a great occasion for the inauguration of the first French TAPPI student chapter, EFPG-TAPPI Chapter Florent Bougerolle, president of the student association, and it's members were very honoured by the presence of Wayne Gross, TAPPI Executive Director, and Hou-Min Chang, a member of TAPPI's Board of Directors, who came to inaugurate this chapter. Their presence shows the importance TAPPI gives to the training of the future papermakers and to the international relationships in this industry.

International student chapters were created in Canada and Finland, and a student chapter in France seemed logical considering the large number of highly qualified students who graduate each year with a master's or doctorate degree in papermaking and converting. Last year, 20 motivated students decided to create the EFPG-TAPPI student chapter with the help of Professors Dominique Lachenal and Jean Francis Bloch, the support of their school, EFPG, the French Engineering School for Paper and Printing, in Grenoble, and that of ATIP, the French Technical Association of the Paper Industry.

The EFPG-TAPPI has incorporated the objectives of TAPPI's student chapters, which are to promote the scientific, professional, and social development of students preparing for careers in the pulp and paper industry, and to assist them in networking with other students around the world.

Our student association is very young and inexperienced, and seeks the help and support of the other chapters and companies in the paper and allied industries. Come meet our dynamic and project-oriented student chapter during the major events in France. EFPG will be at the International Paper Week, IP 2001 this October, in Grenoble. For further information, you can e-mail this chapter [e-mail], or visit the web site http://www.tappi.efpg.inpg.fr.