After graduating the UNH Thompson School of Applied Science with an A.A.S. Forestry, Tanner attended the Forestry program at UNH to obtain his B.S. Forestry degree. As an undergraduate in the B.S.F. program, he focused his studies on applied forestry work while working for both the UNH sawmill as an assistant and the Ecohydrology Lab as an undergraduate field technician where he found his desire to conduct research while completing a summer undergraduate research project performing dendrochronology.
Upon graduation, Tanner continued working for the Ecohydrology Lab as a research technician assisting in various projects. He performed upkeep of the UNH DroughtNet plots, assisted several graduate students in their projects, and worked with researchers from multiple institutions helping to set up and monitor experiments. As part of his assistance in a canopy related project, Tanner received further tree climbing training which led him to become a tree climbing instructor.
Tanner rejoined the lab in 2022 as an MSc student in Natural Resources when he began studying tree physiological responses in maple trees. Tanner will research the effects of tapping on wound sizes in various maple species through measurements such as sap and sugar yields. During this research, he will also be exploring the use of stress wave tomography and electrical resistance tomography to nondestructively measure wound response within trees of interest. He hopes to explore an approach to measure nonconductive wood tissues without the need to fell trees. Using his research, he hopes to help increase the sustainability of syrup production, help explore novel maple syrups, and further advance the use of tomography in tree physiology.