Gordon Murray, executive director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC), announced the appointment of Fahimeh Yazdan Panah as Director of Research and Technical Development in April 2019.

Dr. Yazdan Panah joined WPAC from the University of British Columbia, where she was a research associate with the Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group. For the past 12 years, she has carried out bioenergy research on behalf of the university, governments and private industry clients, focusing on biofuel densification, pretreatment, storage, biomass handling and safety. She also serves as the project lead within ISO Technical Committee 238 (Solid Biofuels) and as the chair within ISO Technical Committee 300 (Solid Recovered Biofuels). She received her Ph.D. and MASc from UBC and a BASc from the Amirkabir University of Technology in Iran. She is registered as a professional engineer with the Association of Engineers and Geoscientists of BC and as a professional project manager with the Project Management Institute. Dr. Yazdan Panah also is the Regional Director of the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering.