Ronald M. Atlas, Ph.D., is dean of the Graduate School, professor of Biology, professor of Public Health, and codirector of the Center for the Deterrence of Biowarfare and Bioterrorism at the University of Louisville. He received his B.S. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1968 and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Rutgers in 1970 and 1972, respectively. After spending a year at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, he joined the faculty at the University of Louisville. He also has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Puerto Rico, External Examiner at the National University of Singapore, External Examiner at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, and Extraordinary Professor of Microbiology at the University of Pretoria. Dr. Atlas has received a number of honors including: The University of Louisville Excellence in Research Award, Johnson and Johnson Fellowship for Biology, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the ASM Founders Award, and the Edmund Youde Lectureship Award in Hong Kong., He has taught a variety of courses in microbiology at the University of Louisville and has authored several textbooks in general microbiology and microbial ecology. He has written nearly 300 research papers and authored or edited more than 20 books. He has conducted studies on the fate of oil in the sea. As part of these studies, he has extensively characterized marine bacterial populations and examined the diversity of microorganisms. He pioneered the field of bioremediation for marine oil spills. He also has conducted studies on the application of molecular techniques to environmental problems. His studies have included the development of "suicide vectors" for the containment of genetically engineered microorganisms and the use of gene probes and the polymerase chain reaction for environmental monitoring, including the detection of pathogens and indicator bacteria for water quality monitoring., He served as president of the American Society for Microbiology. Additionally, he has served on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Recombinant Advisory Committee (RAC), as well as on various advisory boards for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Homeland Security. He has been chairperson of the Environmental Committee and the Task Force on Biological Weapons of the Public and Scientific Affairs Board of the American Society for Microbiology. He has been a national lecturer for Sigma Xi, an American Society for Microbiology Foundation lecturer, and an Australian Society for Microbiology national lecturer. He has served on the editorial boards of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Advances in Microbial Ecology, BioScience, Biotechniques, Journal of Environmental Science, Environmental Microbiology, Journal of Industrial Microbiology, and Biosecurity and Bioterrorism. He is editor of Critical Reviews in Microbiology.
