Robert W. Hutkins, Ph.D., is the Khem Shahani Professor of Food Science in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has taught and conducted research on the microorganisms important in fermented foods for more than twenty years and has received multiple awards for excellence in teaching and research. Dr. Hutkins is an Associate Editor of Microbiology and has served on the editorial boards of several other microbiology journals.