Don Bender, along with co-authors David Carradine, Frank Woeste and Joe Loferski, received the 2009 L.J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Award,

Don Bender, along with co-authors David Carradine, Frank Woeste and Joe Loferski, received the 2009 L.J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Award, presented by the Forest Products Society at the 2009 Annual meeting in Boise, Idaho, for the article “Development of Design Capacities for Residential Deck Ledgers”. The L.J. Markwardt Wood Engineering Award is intended to encourage research and promote knowledge of wood in the engineering field as a means of enhancing the efficient utilization of wood. The Award is presented annually to the authors of a technical paper published during the two calendar years prior to the award year in either the Forest Products Journal or Wood and Fiber Science that is judged to be the most outstanding research paper in the field of wood as an engineering material. The award alternates annually between two categories: engineering science (basic research) and engineering practice (applied research). This research on residential deck ledger connections addressed a critical safety problem with residential decks, and the research was incorporated into the ICC International Residential Code in 2009.