A native of Wisconsin, he received an AB in biology from Harvard University in 1971, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison in an M.D.-Ph.D. program, and received a Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego in 1976. A professor of biology at the Pennsylvania State University from 1976 to 1985, he held an adjunct appointment there until coming to Beloit. His research interests are in the areas of marine and terrestrial plant physiology and ecology, with some 25 scholarly publications resulting. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, among others.
President Burris sits on the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He also serves on the boards and advisory committees of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) based in Hiroshima, Japan.; the Krasnow Institute; Consiglio Scientifico, Stazione Zoologica 'Anton Dohrn' in Naples, Italy; and the Grass Foundation and the Bay and Paul Foundations Biodiversity Leadership award committee.. For many years he served as a consultant to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Science and Human Values. He was the executive director of the National Research Council's Commission on Life Science and the first director of the Commission's Board on Biology prior to his affiliation with the MBL. He has served as president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.
President Burris and his wife, Sally, have three daughters.