He received his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and his M.Sc. degree at the State University of New York, Syracuse. Subsequently, he has worked on conservation and natural resource management projects in the Philippines and Kenya. Currently, his research centers on conifer population genomics and adapting forest genetic resource management to climate change in Canada. His lab members work on ecological genetics of western North American tree species, climate change adaptation strategies for the forestry sector, conservation genetics, dendrochronology, ecophysiology, and phenology of tree species. He has recently initiated similar work for European tree species in collaboration with researchers from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland under the auspices of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.