Jerri Zilli holds a degree in Agricultural Sciences and earned his MSc and PhD in Agronomy, with a focus on Soil Science, from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Brazil. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Murdoch University, Australia. He is a researcher at Embrapa Agrobiologia, where his work focuses on soil microbiology and biochemistry, with emphasis on microbial bioinputs, particularly biological nitrogen fixation and microbial taxonomy. He serves as curator of the Johanna Döbereiner Biological Resource Center and is a professor and graduate advisor in the Graduate Program in Agronomy (Soil Science) at UFRRJ. He is a recipient of a Research Productivity Fellowship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and a Scientist of the State award from the Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ). He is a member of the Thematic Chamber on Emerging Chains of the National Council for Fertilizers and Plant Nutrition (CONFERT) and serves on the International Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Rhizobium and Agrobacterium. He has authored hundreds of scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as a book, several book chapters, and other technical publications. He is currently involved in multiple research projects, including several that he coordinates.