Berdell R. Funke received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in microbiology from Kansas State University. He has spent his professional years as a professor of microbiology at North Dakota State University. He taught introductory microbiology, including laboratory sections, general microbiology, food microbiology, soil microbiology, clinical parasitology, and pathogenic microbiology. As a research scientist in the Experiment Station at North Dakota State, he has published numerous papers on soil microbiology and food microbiology.