Patricia K. Lebow

Mathematical Statistician
Statistics, Life Cycle Analysis, and Economics Research
One Gifford Pinchot Drive
Madison, WI 53726
United States
Madison, WI 53726
United States
Phone
608-231-9331
Current Research
The primary goal of research efforts are to enhance FPL research by 1) at the planning stages of studies by defining and translating study objectives into research hypotheses and describing research approaches from a statistical point of view; 2) by formulating and conducting needed statistical research to resolve complexities and to address consequences of assumptions; 3) by addressing and/or modifying experimental plans as research progresses; and 4) by reporting research results in an understandable and technically correct way to help with the dissemination of research and technology transfer.Current collaborative research involves statistical modeling to increase the understanding of wood degradation and decomposition rates when wood is exposed in complex environments. Other efforts include software development to better characterize the supply of forest-based biomass and its potential contribution to production of bioenergy and biofuels.
Research Interest
- Statistical consultation/collaboration in various areas of wood utilization research, statistical/mathematical modeling, design of experiments, exploratory data analysis
Education
- Oregon State University, Ph.D., Statistics, 1992
- Oregon State University, M.S., Operations Research, 1988
- California State University, Chico, B.S., Computer Science (systems), Mathematics (statistics), 1986
Featured Publications
- Lebow, Patricia K.; Lebow, Stan T.; Nelson, William J.. 2010. Effect of treatment pressure on treatment quality and bending properties of red pine lumber
- Skog, K.; Lebow, P.; Dykstra, D.; Miles, P.; Stokes, B.J.; Perlack, R.D.; Buford, M.; Barbour, J.; McKeever, D.. 2011. Forest biomass and wood waste resources
- Lebow, Patricia K.; Carll, Charles G.. 2010. Investigation of shift in decay hazard (Scheffer) index values over the period 1969-2008 in the conterminous United States
- Lebow, Stan; Lebow, Patricia; Foster, Daniel. 2008. Estimating preservative release from treated wood exposed to precipitation
- Lebow, Stan; Williams, R. Sam; Lebow, Patricia. 2003. Effect of simulated rainfall and weathering on release of preservative elements from CCA treated wood
- Dibble, Alison C.; White, Robert H.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2007. Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter: invasive versus non-invasive plants
- Hennon, Paul; Woodward, Bessie; Lebow, Patricia. 2007. Deterioration of wood from live and dead Alaska yellow-cedar in contact with soil
Other Publications
- Moore, Roderquita; Dietenberger, Mark; Mann, Doreen; Lebow, Patricia; Weise, David R.. 2022. Utilizing two-dimensional gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC ToFMS) to characterize volatile products from pyrolysis of living vegetation foliage
- Eberhardt, Thomas L.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Sheridan, Philip M.; Bhuta, Arvind A.R.. 2022. Identifying southern yellow pine cross sections from the southeastern United States using quadratic discriminant analysis on pith and second annual ring diameters
- Ruppitsch, Wolfgang ; Lebow, Stan ; Lebow, Patricia ; Taylor, Adam. 2021. Role of Tyloses in the Durability of Chestnut Oak
- Mankowski, Mark E., E. .; Morrell, Jeffrey J.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2021. Effects on brood development in the carpenter ant Camponotus vicinus Mayr after exposure to the yeast associate Schwanniomyces polymorphus Kloecker
- Lebow, Stan T.; Ohno, Katie M.; Lebow, Patricia K.; West, Michael. 2020. Efficacy of alternative copper-based preservatives in protecting decking from biodegradation
- Arango, Rachel ; Yang, Vina ; Lebow, Stan ; Lebow, Patricia ; Wiemann, Mike ; Grejczyk, Megan ; DeWald, Patrick. 2020. Variation in mold susceptibility among hardwood species under laboratory conditions
- Verrill, Steve P.; Owens, Frank C.; Arvanitis, Matthew A.; Kretschmann, David E.; Shmulsky, Rubin ; Ross, Robert J.; Lebow, Patricia. 2020. Estimated probability of breakage of lumber of a fixed “grade” can vary greatly from mill to mill and time to time
- Kirker, Grant T.; Bishell, Amy ; Cappellazzi, Jed ; Palmer, Jonathan ; Bechle, Nathan ; Lebow, Patricia ; Lebow, Stan. 2020. Role of leaf litter in above-ground wood decay
- Young, Timothy M.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Lebow, Stan ; Taylor, Adam. 2020. Statistical process control and related methods for improvement of the treated-wood industries
- Sabo, Ronald C.; Stark, Nicole M.; Lebow, Patricia ; Nabinejad, Omid ; Karkhanis, Sonal S.; Matuana, Laurent M.. 2020. Novel method of compounding cellulose nanocrystal suspensions into poly(lactic acid) and poly(vinyl acetate) blends
- Lebow, S ; Lebow, P ; Hirth, K C.. 2019. Laboratory immersion method for accelerated prediction of preservative leaching from pressure-treated wood exposed to precipitation
- Young, Timothy M.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Lebow, Stan ; Taylor, Adam. 2019. SPC handbook for the treated wood industries
- Lebow, Stan T.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2018. Internal moisture content and temperature of standardized aboveground wood durability test specimens
- Lebow, Stan T.; Arango, Rachel A.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Kirker, Grant T.; Mankowski, Mark E., E. .; Halverson, Steven A.. 2018. Northeastern United States species treated with copper-based preservatives: Durability in mississippi stake tests
- Young, Timothy M.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Kirker, Grant T.; Taylor, Adam. 2018. A protocol for implementing statistical process control in the treated wood industry
- Lebow, Stan T.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Kirker, Grant T.. 2017. Comparison of performance criteria for evaluating stake test data
- Lebow, Patricia K.; Young, Timothy M.; Lebow, Stan. 2017. Statistical process control for residential treated wood
- Boardman, Charles; Glass, Samuel V.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2017. Simple and accurate temperature correction for moisture pin calibrations in oriented strand board
- Lebow, Stan T.; Zelinka, Samuel L.; Arango, Rachel A.; Woodward, Bessie M.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Ohno, Katie M.; Chotlos, Nathaniel P.. 2017. Evaluation of nonpressure wood preservatives for military applications
- Stelzer, Rene; Taylor, Adam; Lebow, Patricia. 2017. Use of small volume cups in XRF analysis of treated wood retention
- Lebow, Stan T.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Hirth, Kolby C.. 2017. Technical Note: Comparison of accelerated methods for evaluating leaching from preservative-treated wood
- Dykstra, Dennis P.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Pilkerton, Stephen; Barbour, Jamie; Hummel, Susan; Johnston, Stuart R.. 2016. Effect of habitat-improvement thinnings on lumber products from coastal Douglas-fir
- Kirker, Grant T.; Blodgett, Amy; Lebow, Patricia K.; Clausen, Carol A.. 2016. Effect of Fungal Competition on Decay Rates in Bicultured Soil Bottle Assays
- Clausen, Carol A.; Yang, Vina W.; Arango, Rachel A.; Hasburgh, Laura E.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Reiner, Richard S.. 2015. Cellulose Nanocrystal Entrapment of Benzalkonium Chloride in Southern Pine: Biological, Chemical, and Physical Properties
- Lebow, Patricia K.; Taylor, Adam M.; Young, Timothy M.. 2015. A Tool for Estimating Variability in Wood Preservative Treatment Retention
- Lebow, Stan T.; Lebow, Patricia; Woodward, Bessie; Kirker, Grant T.; Arango, Rachel. 2015. Fifty-Year Durability Evaluation of Posts Treated with Industrial Wood Preservatives
- Lebow, Stan; Lebow, Patricia. 2015. Use of a Resistance-type Moisture Meter above the Fiber Saturation Point
- Kirker, Grant T.; Blodgett, Amy; Lebow, Patricia. 2015. Laboratory Evaluations of Durability of Southern Pine Pressure Treated With Extractives From Durable Wood Species
- Turhollow, Anthony; Perlack, Robert; Eaton, Laurence; Langholtz, Matthew; Brandt, Craig; Downing, Mark; Wright, Lynn; Skog, Kenneth; Hellwinckel, Chad; Stokes, Bryce; Lebow, Patricia. 2014. The updated billion-ton resource assessment
- Kirker, Grant T.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2014. Principal Component Analysis of Microbial Community Data from an Accelerated Decay Cellar Test
- Wunderle, Jr., Joseph M., Jr..; Lebow, Patricia K.; White, Jennifer D.; Currie, Dave; Ewert, David N.. 2014. Sex and age differences in site fidelity, food resource tracking, and body condition of wintering Kirtland's Warblers (<I>Setophaga Kirtlandii</I>) in the Bahamas
- Green, Frederick III; Lebow, Patti; Kartal, S. Nami. 2014. E1-09 Termite Choice Testing: What is it good for?
- Schultz, Tor P.; Nicholas, Darrel D.; Lebow, Patti. 2014. Chapter 15: Discussion on Prior Commercial Wood Preservation Systems That Performed Less Well Than Expected
- Lebow, Stan; Woodward, Bessie; Lebow, Patricia. 2014. Documenting the Durability and Service Life of Pressure-treated Wood
- Kirker, G.T.; Diehl, S.V.; Lebow, P.K.. 2014. Microbial Community Analysis of Naturally Durable Wood in an Above Ground Field Test
- Lebow, Patricia; Kirker, Grant. 2014. Rate My Stake: Interpretation of Ordinal Stake Ratings
- Ibach, Rebecca E.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2014. Strength loss in decayed wood
- Kirker, G.T.; Blodgett, A.B.; Arango, R.A.; Lebow, P.K.; Clausen, C.A.. 2013. The role of extractives in naturally durable wood species
- Lebow, Stan; Woodward, Bessie; Kirker, Grant; Lebow, Patricia. 2013. Long-Term Durability of Pressure-Treated Wood in a Severe Test Site
- Skog, Kenneth; Barbour, Jamie; Buford, Marilyn; Drykstra, Dennis; Lebow, Patti; Miles, Pat; Perlack, Bob; Stokes, Bryce. 2013. Forest-Based Biomass Supply Curves for the United States
- Lebow, Patricia K.; Lebow, Stan T.; Halverson, Steven A.. 2013. Boron Diffusion in Surface-Treated Framing Lumber
- Hastrup, Anne Christine Steenkjær; Green III, Frederick; Lebow, Patricia K.; Jensen, Bo. 2012. Enzymatic oxalic acid regulation correlated with wood degradation in four brown-rot fungi
- Lebow, Patricia K.; Conklin, Scott W.. 2011. The Statistics of wood assays for preservative retention
- Green, Frederick; Kartal, S. Nami; Lebow, Patricia K.; Arango, Rachel A.. 2011. NHA choice test : feeding dilemma for Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar)
- Lebow, Stan T.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Halverson, Steven A.. 2010. Penetration of boron from topically applied borate solutions
- Coleman, Robert; Yang, Vina; Woodward, Bessie; Lebow, Patti; Clausen, Carol. 2010. Efficacy of fatty acid chemistry : candidate mold and decay fungicides
- Lebow, Stan; Woodward, Bessie; Lebow, Patricia; Clausen, Carol. 2010. The need for performance criteria in evaluating the durability of wood products
- Wang, Xiping; Stelzer, Henry E.; Wiedenbeck, Jan; Lebow, Patricia K.; Ross, Robert J.. 2009. Assessing wood quality of borer-infested red oak logs with a resonance acoustic technique
- Lebow, Stan T.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Woodward, Bessie M.; Halverson, Steven A.; Abbott, William; West, Michael M.. 2009. Efficacy of a borax-copper preservative in exposed applications
- Arango, Rachel A.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Green, Frederick III. 2009. Correlation between oxalic acid production and tolerance of Tyromyces palustris strain TYP-6137 to N',N-naphthaloylhydroxamine
- Perlack, Robert D.; Stokes, Bryce J.; Ferrell, John; Bohman, Mary; Skog, Kenneth E.; Dykstra, Dennis P.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Miles, Patrick D.. 2008. Cellulosic-based ethanol and the contribution from agriculture and forestry
- Cumming, Anne Buckelew; Twardus, Daniel B.; Hoehn, Robert; Nowak, David J.; Mielke, Manfred; Rideout, Richard; Butalla, Helen; Lebow, Patricia. 2008. Wisconsin street tree assessment, 2002-2003
- Clausen, Carol A.; Kenealy, William; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2008. Oxalate analysis methodology for decayed wood
- Lebow, Stan; Woodward, Bessie; Lebow, Patricia. 2008. Observations on the predictive value of short-term stake tests
- Hunt, John F.; Gu, Hongmei; Lebow, Patricia. 2008. Theoretical thermal conductivity equation for uniform density wood cells
- Lebow, Stan; Lebow, Patricia. 2007. The role of moisture content in above-ground leaching
- Lebow, Stan T.; Woodward, Bessie; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2007. Ground-contact durability of wood treated with borax-copper preservative
- Arango, Rachel A.; Green, Frederick; Hintz, Kristina; Lebow, Patricia K.; Miller, Regis B.. 2006. Natural durability of tropical and native woods against termite damage by Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar)
- Lebow, Patricia; Ziobro, Richard; Sites, Linda; Schultz, Tor; Pettry, David; Nicholas, Darrel; Lebow, Stan; Kamdem, Pascal; Fox, Roger; Crawford, Douglas. 2006. Statistical analysis of influence of soil source on leaching of arsenic and copper from CCA-C treated wood
- Lebow, Stan T.; Cooper, Paul A.; Lebow, Patricia. 2006. Study design considerations in evaluating environmental impacts
- Santana, Mirna E.; Lodge, D. Jean; Lebow, Patricia. 2005. Relationship of host recurrence in fungi to rates of tropical leaf decomposition
- Freeman, Mike H.; Crawford, Douglas; Lebow, Patricia; Brient, James A.. 2005. A comparison of wood preservatives in posts in southern Mississippi : results from a half-decade of testing
- Winandy, Jerrold E.; Curling, Simon F.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2005. Controlling moisture content of wood samples using a modified soil-pan decay method
- Lebow, Stan T.; Cooper, Paul; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2004. Variability in evaluating environmental impacts of treated wood.
- Williams, R. Sam; Lebow, Stan; Lebow, Patricia. 2003. Effect of weathering on chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood : leaching of metal salts and change in water repellency
- Lebow, Patricia K.; Spelter, Henry; Ince, Peter J.. 2003. FPL-PELPS : a price endogenous linear programming system for economic modeling, supplement to PELPS III, version 1.1.
- Lebow, Patricia; Winandy, Jerrold E.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2003. Using kinetic models to predict thermal degradation of fire-retardant-treated plywood roof sheathing
- Lebow, Patricia; Winandy, Jerrold E.; Lebow, Patricia K.. 2003. Using kinetic models to predict thermal degradation of fire-retardant-treated plywood roof sheathing
- Wolfe, Ronald W.; Bodig, Jozsef; Lebow, Patricia. 2001. Derivation of nominal strength for wood utility poles
- Crawford, Douglas M.; Lebow, Patricia K.; DeGroot, Rodney. 2000. Evaluation of new creosote formulations after extended exposures in fungal cellar tests and field plot tests
- Lebow, Stan T.; Lebow, Patricia K.; Foster, Daniel O.; Brooks, Kenneth M.. . Environmental impact of preservative-treated wood in a wetland boardwalk.
Research Highlights

Improving Accelerated Testing of Durable Wood Products
Year: 2010
Durable wood products such as posts, poles and timbers are expected to resist decay and termite attack for several decades. Testing the durability of new types of wood products is challenging because it is impractical to conduct tests for more than a small fraction of the expected service life.

Method for Estimating Wood Preservative Leaching
Year: 2019
Pressure-treated wood is used widely for construction projects in sensitive environments. This USDA Forest Service research project developed a method to estimate biocide leaching from pressure-treated wood exposed to precipitation.

Effective utilization of naturally durable wood biomass offers an overlooked source of potential wood protectants
Year: 2017
Forest Service researchers at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisc., are evaluating extractives as potential next-generation wood preservatives. This bio-rational approach offers environmentally friendly alternatives to wood preservatives and provides a utilization platform for underutili...

Cellulose Nanocrystals Chemically Entrap Biocide in Wood
Year: 2015
Can cellulose nanomaterials play a role in the development of novel preservatives to protect wood products from biodeterioration?

Role of leaf litter in above ground wood decay
Year: 2020
FPL researchers in Wood Durability and Protection investigate the contributions of leaf litter accumulation to the decay of wood in above ground exposure.