Forrest is a 2017 graduate of Harvard College with a joint degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science and Public Policy. As an undergraduate, his research focused on tree leaf respiration as it pertained to the global carbon cycle. He also worked for the Harvard University Office for Sustainability for three years in the Resource Efficiency Program. After graduation, Forrest spent a year teaching in The Gambia as a Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Traveling Fellow.

During his 2018 Geoscience Policy fall internship, Forrest published news briefs for the AGI Monthly Review. He also represented AGI at coalition meetings, attended Congressional hearings and briefings, managed AGI’s website and social media content, and wrote an article on early volcano warning systems for EARTH magazine.