Since 2001, Frank Owens has been involved in the global marketing and sourcing of wood products. Fluent in Japanese, he has lived abroad for eight years in East Asia and the Middle East. He holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Minnesota, a master's degree in East Asian languages from UCLA, and a doctoral degree in forest resources from Mississippi State University, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sustainable Bioproducts. He teaches courses in wood anatomy, forest products marketing and lumber manufacturing and conducts research on lumber properties and computer vision applications for wood identification. He is currently a member the Council of the International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA) and has previously served as both President and Vice President of the Forest Products Society (FPS) and on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Floor Covering Technicians (NAFCT).