Since arriving at Georgia, he has been conducting research on the development, use and safety of transgenic (i.e., GM) and edited crop plants, using grant monies from USDA-NIFA, NSF, DOE and the United Soybean Board. He has published a guide for environmental risk assessment of GMOs, along with ~ 120 journal articles in refereed publications and 15 book chapters. He has served terms on the editorial boards of Plant Cell Reports, Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture, and Crop Science. He has served as elected chair of the biotechnology section of the Crop Science Society of America and of the plant section of the Society for In Vitro Biology, and is a fellow of both societies, as well as of the AAAS. He served a term as a co-director for the NSF Plant Genome Research Program, and currently serves as the past-secretary and annual meeting program chair for the American Society of Plant Biologists. He is actively engaged in training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and teaches graduate-level courses in crop genetics. He formerly taught undergraduate courses in agroecology and sustainable agriculture. He has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and other countries, and advised legislators and regulators in the various countries on the requisites for a functional regulatory system that ensures the safety of GM products.