Russ McMinn received bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. After graduating, he began his career in food safety working as a research specialist at the Food Research Institute in the Applied Food Microbiology Laboratory. In 2024, he received a Ph.D. in Animal Science from the University of Wisconsin where his research focused on the thermal inactivation of Salmonella, L. monocytogenes, and STEC in processed meat products. He is currently working as a research program manager for Dr. Jeff Sindelar at the University of Wisconsin, continuing his research, training graduate students, and developing new thermal processing tools.