Dr. Nirosh D. Aluthge earned a B.S. in Microbiology at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka with First Class Honors in 2009. In 2012, he began pursuing a M.S. degree and then a Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology under the direction of Samodha Fernando. Nirosh successfully defended his doctoral dissertation which focused on the Evaluation of human microbiota associated porcine models to study the human gastrointestinal microbiome. He published his work in 11 journal articles and presented his data at 6 scientific meetings. Nirosh's excellence in research is evident based on his receipt the Milton Mohr Graduate Fellowship in 2017 and placed first in the Arthaud Graduate Student Oral Presentation Competition. In addition to research, Nirosh served as a teaching assistant for 2 courses at UNL and 2 courses at the University of Kelaniya. Nirosh is now a Post-Doctoral Research Associate and continues to study the molecular microbiological aspects of health and biotechnology in humans and production livestock.