Dr. Bowyer is a professor (part time) within the University of Minnesota’s Department of Bio-based Products. He is an Elected Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science, Chairman of the Tropical Forest Foundation, Chairman of the Minnesota Bio-fiber Council, a Scientific Advisor to the Temperate Forest Foundation, and an Associate in Dovetail Partners, Inc. – a business oriented environmental consulting firm.
Dr. Bowyer has served as President of the Forest Products Society (1993-94) and of the Society of Wood Science and Technology (1987-88), and as Vice President of the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (1992-2003). He was Head of the University of Minnesota's Department of Wood & Paper Science from 1984 to 1994, and Founder and Director of the Forest Products Management Development Institute at the University of Minnesota (an organization dedicated to education and development of industry professionals) from 1994-2003. Bowyer served as Project Leader of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station project “Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-Based Materials and Products" from 1988 to 2003, and led a research team focused on global raw material consumption and supply trends over a 30-year period. Dr. Bowyer has published over 220 articles dealing with wood science and technology, environmental life cycle analysis, and relationships of wood and other raw materials use, forest policy, and environmental impacts. He is also coauthor of the leading introductory wood science textbook in North America Forest Products and Wood Science – an Introduction, now in its 4th edition, and of the widely used CD-ROM The Nature of Wood and Wood Products.