Dr. James Tiedje is a University Distinguished Professor of microbiology and Director of the National Science Foundation Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. He received his B.S. degree from Iowa State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University. He has 30 years experience leading research in microbial ecology and physiology. He has been Editor-in-Chief of Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Editor of Microbial and Molecular Biology Reviews. He has over 300 refereed papers including 6 in Science and Nature. He has received the Soil Science Research Award from the Soil Sci. Soc. Amer., the Environmental Award from the American Soc. Microbiology and shared the 1992 Finley Prize given by Unesco for research contributions in microbiology of international significance. He is Fellow of the AAAS, Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and Fellow of the International Institute of Biotechnology. Dr. Tiedje is past chair of EPA's Science Advisory Panel (FIFRA), past chair of the Soil Biology Commission of the International Union of Soil Science, is currently past president of the International Society of Microbial Ecology, chairs the American Society of Microbiology's Environmental Microbiology Committee, and serves on the Department of Energy's Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee.