A wood anatomist studies the relationships between the structure of wood and its functions and properties, whether in the living tree, in a 2×4, or in a piece of trace evidence from a crime scene.
My greatest strength as a scientist is probably my willingness to take the time to run with a new idea, and see where it leads.
Is it possible to train non-specialists in the wood identification of endangered species to prevent or curtail illegal logging? Can those people then go forth and train others so that the knowledge spreads?
The transmitted light microscope is the workhorse of wood anatomy. The elegance of wood structure, as well as its complexity and variation, is best revealed at the magnifications available from a light microscope.
My most exciting work thus far has been in the area of applied forensic analysis. I have conducted forensic analyses of wood evidence from numerous crime scenes, contaminated food products and shipments of illegally-logged wood.
I knew from my earliest years that I wanted to be a scientist. For years I saw myself becoming an entomologist, but one morning between my first and second semester of college, I woke, sat up in bed, and said, “I am going to be a botanist.”
