Robert Burns is a Distinguished Professor in the Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In this position Dr. Burns serves as the UT Precision Livestock Farming specialist with a 70% Extension appointment and a 30% Research appointment. Responsibilities include the application of technology to collect and analyze data to better monitor and manage animal production system components including animal environment, housing systems, feed and watering systems, manure collection, storage, treatment and application systems and other production system components. Dr. Burns currently serves as a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Technical Advisory Group on Methane, as a member of the United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Air Quality Task Force and as Chair of the National Pork Producers Council Air Science Advisory Committee. Prior to being named as a Distinguished Professor Dr. Burns served for a decade (from 2010-2020) as Assistant Dean, Associate Dean and Dean for UT Extension. As Dean Dr. Burns provided overall leadership and oversight to UT Extension including Agriculture and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H Youth Development and Community Economic Development educational programming across the state of Tennessee. Prior to joining Extension Administration, Robert conducted applied research and Extension programming on manure storage and treatment systems, nutrient management and the quantification of air emissions from livestock and poultry production systems. Robert served as a member of the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering faculty at Iowa State University from 2004-2010, and as a member of the Agricultural Engineering faculty at the University of Tennessee from 1995-2004. Dr. Burns holds a BS in Agricultural Engineering, MS in Environmental Engineering, and PhD in Civil Engineering from The University of Tennessee. Robert is a registered professional engineer and a Fellow of the American Society of Agriculture and Biological Engineering.