He obtained his PhD in 1990 for his thesis entitled "Triage et fiabilité des bois de construction: validité de la méthode ultrason" (Sorting and reliability of construction timber: validity of the ultrasonic method).

[5] He continued research at the IBOIS (Laboratory for Timber Construction) at EPFL in two areas: non-destructive technologies to measure the mechanical quality of wood material and the optimisation of wooden structures for the application in large buildings.

[9] During this period he organised several international symposia among them the Symposium on Nondestructive Testing of Wood and the World Conference on Timber Engineering.

[10][11] He registered several patents such as for a device for measuring the characteristics of wood using ultrasound (Sylvatest),[12] and an application for measuring wooden poles for overhead electricity and telephone lines (K-Store & Polux),[13][14] as well as for the construction of wood and mixed wood-concrete slabs as the Ariane truss.

[16][17] Sandoz integrates wood in all types of structures and buildings and optimises spans and heights, as well as for thermal and acoustic performance.