Tyler received his bachelor's degree in environmental horticulture from Virginia Tech and his master's degree in plant pathology with a focus in population genetics from the University of Tennessee. During his master's degree program, he focused on improving conservation efforts for endangered asters native to Tennessee. This included assessment of genetic variation between isolated populations of the species and identifying problem pathogens affecting them.
Tyler has worked in various growing environments ranging from field cultivation of wine grapes to large scale, highly controlled indoor growing settings. He also has extensive experience as an Integrated Pest Management specialist and in molecular laboratories working in genetics, plant disease diagnostics and tissue culture.
