Dr. Burr has been working in the NSF-Arizona AMS facility since 1990. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He is a Fullbright 2006-2007 scholar. His research is aimed at improving pretreatment techniques.

He has published on methods for pretreating coral samples using selective dissolution, described a technique for measuring radiocarbon in groundwater dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and experimented with stepwise combustion of sediment and pottery samples at different temperatures.

He has also written on the radiocarbon calibration, using corals which lived at a time when no tree-ring data was available. He h as supported a large number of studies of paleoclimate and paleoenvironment and has participated in extensive field work, bridging the gap between the field and the laboratory.