My background combines degrees and professional experiences in metallurgical engineering, applied linguistics, discourse studies, and education. Overall, my research interests lie in the areas of Writing Studies (specifically, writing in academic disciplines and professions), non-literary Genre Studies (including forensic genres), and Multimodality. My research focus has been on the study of genres (different kinds) of writing, speaking, drawing, movement and so on in academic and professional contexts (in English as the first or additional language; considering English for Academic Purposes [EAP] and Language for Specific Purposes [LSP]). More specifically, I am interested in how people become proficient communicators and users of relevant genres in all areas of their lives. Over the years, my research has included studies in the area of school-to-work transition, investigating learning trajectories of undergraduate students moving through their university programs and further into the workplace in Engineering, Medicine, Mathematics, and other disciplines. Currently, I am engaged in a collaborative study that looks at how autistic university students in Canada and beyond learn academic genres. Another collaboration has included studies of the genre of the suicide note, writing by violent offenders, and police interviews with vulnerable populations. In 2012, I co-organized (with Drs. Jaffer Sheyholislami and Graham Smart) the international conference Genre 2012, which was funded by SSHRC and held at Carleton University. In the past, I served as Vice President and President of the Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing (CASDW) and organized its two annual conferences.