Maurice Defo

Roles and responsibilities

Wood scientist, heat, air and moisture transfer in building envelopes specialist in the Facade Systems & Products group focusing on research related to the thermal and hygrothermal performance and long-term durability of wall assemblies and components subjected to historical and future climate loads.

Current research and/or projects

  • Project manager within Infrastructure Canada’s Climate Resilience Buildings – Core Public Infrastructure sponsored project, working on hygrothermal performance and long-term durability of building envelope materials, components and assemblies to changing climate loads and updating of building codes and standards to permit adapting building enclosures to a changing climate.
  • Project manager and researcher of the Tall Wood buildings project to evaluate the effects of climate change and extreme events on the hygrothermal performance and durability of Tall Wood building envelope materials, components and assemblies.
  • Support to Development of a guideline for the design for durability of the building envelope
  • Technical support to Mould growth risk on building components

Education

  • Ph.D., Wood Science, Department of Wood and Forest Science, Université Laval (1999)
  • Forestry Engineer, Université de Dschang, Cameroon (1991)

Affiliations

  • Project Management Institute (PMI)
  • International Research Group on Wood Preservation (IRG-WP)

Awards

  • Competitive grant from NSERC (National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) Industrial Postdoctoral Fellowships Program: 2001-2003.
  • Competitive grant from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) for graduate studies: 1992-1997.
  • Competitive scholarship from the Ministry of higher education (Cameroon) for forestry engineer studies: 1986-1991.

Certification/Licenses/Trades

Project Management Professional, Licence no. 1860597

Key publications

Defo, M. (2018). hygIRC: review of the implementation of a hygrothermal simulation model. Internal Report (National Research Council Canada. Construction); no. A1-012761.1. 138p. https://doi.org/10.4224/23003967

Lacasse, M. A.; Defo, M.; Gaur, A.; Moore, T.; Sahyoun, S. (2018), Approach for assessing the climate resilience of buildings to the effects of hygrothermal loads, Technical Report CRB-CPI-Y2-R18 / NRCC-CONST-56269E; National Research Council Canada; Construction Research Centre; 44 p. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4224/23003982

Giroud, G., Bégin, J., Defo, M., and Ung, C.-H. 2016. Ecogeographic variation in black spruce wood properties across the Quebec’s boreal forest. Forest Ecology and Management, 378(2016):131-145.

Maurice Defo, Isabelle Duchesne et Jim Stewart.  2015. A Review of the Current State of Wood Quality Modelling and Decision Support Systems in Canada. Information Report FI-X-012. September 2015. Canadian Wood Fibre centre.

Giroud, G., Defo, M., Bégin, J., and Ung, C.-H. 2014. Application of near-infrared spectroscopy to determine the juvenile–mature wood transition in black spruce. Forest Prod. J., 65(3/4):129-138.

Xu, Q., Qin, M., Ni, Y., Defo, M., Dalpke, B., Sherson, G. 2011. Predictions of wood density and Module of Elasticity of Balsam fir and Black spruce from Near Infrared (NIR) spectral analyses. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 41(2): 352-358.

Defo, M., Goodison, A., and Uy, N. 2009. A method to map within-tree distribution of fibre properties using SilviScan-3 data. The Forestry Chronicle, 85(3):409-416.

Maurice Defo. 2009. EvaluTreeMap. A SilviScan-3 data analysis tool. Paprican Special Report. PSR 616. FPInnovations-Paprican Division. Pointe-Claire, Québec, Canada.

Defo, M., Taylor, A. M., and Bond, B. 2007. Determination of moisture content and density of fresh-sawn red oak lumber by near infrared spectroscopy. Forest Prod. J., 57(5):68-72.

Defo, M. and G. Brunette. 2007. A logs drying model and its application to the analysis of the influence of length and diameter on the logs drying rate. Wood Fiber Sci., 39(1):16-27.

Defo, M., Fortin, Y., and A. Cloutier. 2004. Modeling superheated steam vacuum drying of wood. Drying Technol., 22(10): 2231-2253.

Defo, M., A. Cloutier, and B. Riedl. 2004. Wood-cement compatibility of some eastern Canadian woods by isothermal calorimetry. Forest Prod. J., 54(10):49-56.

Defo, M., Y. Fortin, and A. Cloutier. 1999. Modeling vacuum-contact drying of wood: the water potential approach. Drying Technol., 18(8):1737-1778.

Previous work experience

  • Research officer, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa (ON), 02/2017 – Present
  • Lecturer/Research Scientist, Dep. of Wood and Forest Sciences, Université Laval, Québec (QC), 07/2012 – 06/2016
  • Research scientist, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, NRCan, Québec (QC), 12/2014 – 08/2015
  • Research scientist, FPInnovations, Vancouver (BC), 01/2007 – 03/2012
  • Visiting Scientist, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (TN), 10/2005 – 12/2006
  • Industrial-Postdoctoral scientist, Forintek Canada Corp., Québec (QC), 05/2001 - 04/2003
Maurice Defo

Maurice Defo

Associate Research Officer
Construction
1200 Montreal Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6
Preferred language: French
Other(s): French
Telephone: 613-990-0223

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Expertise

Energy