Pierre Francois Joseph Abeels
Professor Abeels was born in Belgium and received his training as an engineer in agronomy with a speciality in forestry. He served as Chief Engineer in the Congo and then in similar positions in Belgium. He then had research leadership positions with FAO in Africa and with the University of Louvain in Belgium. He took on a lifetime of teaching and research assignments with the university, having recently retired as Professor Emeritus. During his career he served as a Visiting Professor in Algeria, Morocco, Germany, and Benin. He provides consultations in Africa, Near East, Malaysia, Nepal, and many other countries. His speciality areas are off-road locomotion, tractive relations, and soil trafficability. He is a noted researcher, teacher, inventor, publisher, and leader in the forest engineering profession. He has published over 200 articles and the book, Génie Forestier.
Professor Abeels has received many awards and recognitions with the latest becoming a Fellow in ASAE and receiving their Kishida International Award. He speaks four languages and has served as an able “ambassador” for forest engineering all over the world.
Ulf Sundberg
Professor Sundberg was a graduate of the Royal College of Forestry in Stockholm. He was a Professor at the Department of Operational Efficiency at the Swedish Forest Research Institute, which later became the Faculty of Forestry of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He also served as Head of the University Campus at Garpenberg. Other duties and positions included Visiting Professor at Yale, Head of Forest Logging and Transport Branch at FAO, and consultancies in 13 countries. Professor Sundberg also served as Vice Chair of the FAO/ECE/ILO Committee on Forest Operations. He published over 87 scientific reports and papers, 14 textbooks, and 90 general papers.
During his life, Professor Sundberg received many honors. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Forestry and Agriculture, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, and Royal Norwegian Academy of Science. He was a Knight and Commander of the Royal Swedish Order of the Northern Pole Star. He was an honorary member of the Forest Students Association and IUFRO, and he also received several honorary doctorates.
He is remembered for his love and enthusiasm for forest engineering and his personal and professional contributions to the profession and to those who knew him and had the opportunity to work with him.