A retired professor of English language and literature at the State University of New York, college at New Paltz, he translated Finnish poetry and prose into the English language, including Väinö Linna's Under the North Star trilogy, of which the third part was published on the same day he was presented with the medal of Knight First Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland in 2003.
[3] Impola studied English language and literature at Columbia University, New York.
He met his future wife Helvi at a Finnish community hall in New York.
Among his translations are Linna's North Star trilogy,[5] several works by Kalle Päätalo, and Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers.
[3] After his retirement, he founded the Finnish American Translators Association (FATA).