Background
He received degrees of A.B. in 1907 and M.F. in 1909 from Harvard University, where he remained as an assistant in botany. The following year he became an instructor in forestry and in 1927 a professor of plant anatomy. From 1914 to 1916 he was a member of the advisory board of the United States Forest Products Laboratory and in 1918 was placed in charge of the Wood Section, Materials Engineering Department, of the Bureau of Aircraft Production.
