DULUTH, MN (KDAL) - The Natural Resources Research Institute at UMD received a 600 thousand dollar grant from the National Science Foundation for work on making engineered wood products such as plywood and oriented strandboard more water and rot resistant using thermal modification.  The technology is a special heat technique that results in higer performing wood products.  It is hoped that the two year study will help to strengthen regional wood products industry which has been hit hard by the recession and a decline in housing construction.