George Mantanis

George I. Mantanis (Γεώργιος Ι. Μαντάνης; born September 18, 1966) is a Greek wood scientist and professor at the University of Thessaly in Greece, who is an elected fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science.

Early life and education
Mantanis was born in Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece in 1966, and grew up in the village, Stipsi. He is the eldest son of Eleni Sevastou and her husband, Ignatios Mantanis. He completed his secondary education with honors at the High School of Kalloni at Lesbos in 1984.

Subsequently, from 1984 to 1989, he pursued his studies in forestry specializing in wood technology, earning a university diploma from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment.

After receiving a McIntire–Stennis scholarship, he pursued doctoral studies in the United States of America under the supervision of Raymond A. Young at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his PhD degree in 1994, after conducting novel research upon the swelling of wood and lignocellulosic materials in water and organic liquids,   which has received over 1,000 citations by March 2024.

Research career
In the period 1996–1997, he worked at the Forest Research Institute of Thessaloniki, located in Thermi, Greece. During the years 1998–2001, he was employed at the chemical research company Chimar Hellas S.A. in Thessaloniki. After that, he worked as a faculty member at Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, Department of Wood & Furniture Design and Technology, from 2002 to 2019.

Since 2019, he has held the position of professor at the University of Thessaly and serves as the head of the Laboratory of Wood Science and Technology, located in Karditsa.

In 2018, Mantanis was elected as a co-editor in the scientific journal Wood Material Science and Engineering (Taylor & Francis), which publishes topics related to wood science, wood technology, and wood engineering.

In October 2020, a meta-research by Ioannidis et al. in the journal PLOS Biology, included his name in Mendeley Data 2020, thus acknowledging his research work in the area of wood sciences.

In December 2021, the International Academy of Wood Science, a nonprofit organization of recognised wood scientists, elected George Mantanis as a fellow for his research and scientific work.

In October 2023, a meta-research carried out by John Ioannidis et al. at the Stanford University, included Mantanis in the Elsevier Data 2022, where he was ranked at the top 2% of researchers globally in the area of wood science (forestry – materials).

Personal life
Since 2002, Mantanis lives in Karditsa city with his wife, Paraskevi Zougrou.