Faculty Member Compiles Directory of U.S.-Made Building Products

Published 12.15.2017

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When Robert A. Wozniak Jr. couldn’t find a suitable book for a sustainable building materials course he was teaching at Pennsylvania College of Technology – “nothing that I saw was quite what I was looking for” – he set out on a two-year mission to fill that vacuum.

The result is Made in America: Sustainable Building Products, Materials & Methods, a convenient and comprehensive listing of building products manufactured in the United States.



Robert A. Wozniak Jr.The resource guide – nearly 300 pages in its expanded second edition and available from Amazon – is inspired, in part, by Montana builder/economist Anders Lewendal, who observed that, “if every builder bought just 5 percent more U.S.-made materials, they would create 220,000 American jobs right now.”

Wozniak’s guide is organized by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Division headings familiar to professionals in the architectural, engineering and construction fields. Published by William R. Parks in Hershey, the book is intended for a variety of related audiences – from architects and interior designers to developers and contractors, but also the building/homeowner and students, in the related AEC profession. The resource guide/directory provides substantial content for a variety of building types.

The associate professor has used the resource with his students, who represent the future of the industry as well as the homeowners of tomorrow, and said he received what may be its best review to date: “It’s you … in book form!”

Made in AmericaHonoring the businesses that continue to employ American workers in the design, fabrication and distribution of green building materials and products, Wozniak’s publication includes QR codes that help readers compare materials by linking them to each company website and their related products.

A member of the Penn College faculty since 2005, teaching architectural technology and building science and sustainable design classes, Wozniak holds a Bachelor of Professional Studies from the College of Architecture and Planning, State University of New York at Buffalo, and a master’s degree in education from Wilkes University. He is certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Previously, he taught and was employed in various capacities in Buffalo, New York; Tempe, Arizona; Vincennes, Indiana; and Jamestown, New York.

For more about related majors in Penn College’s School of Construction & Design Technologies, call 570-327-4518.

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