Etienne is responsible for the scientific direction of the research group. He supervises all graduate students, postdocs and employees. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences of the Université de Montréal, a member of the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, and holds the Canada Research Chair in Plant Functional Biodiversity. He also heads the Canadian Airborne Biodiversity Observatory (CABO). Outside of work he enjoys spending as much time as possible exploring the outdoors with his family, often on bicycles.