4 hours. 3 hours lecture and 3 hours lab per week.
Environmental Microbiology
Course Description
Types of microorganisms in the environment; effect of environmental conditions on microbial existence; public health aspects of environmental microbiology; applications of microorganisms to solve environmental problems.
Athena Title
Environmental Microbiology
Prerequisite
MIBO 3000-3000L or [(MIBO 3500 or MIBO 3500E or MIBO 3500H) and MIBO 3500L] or [(MIBO 2500 or MIBO 2500E) and MIBO 2500L]
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to describe the nature of environmental habitats for different groups of microbes.
Students will be able to define the role of the microbial community in biogeochemical cycles and how this affects and is affected by human activities.
Students will examine the role of the environment in infectious diseases.
Students will compare the wide range of tools and methodologies used to study microbes in the environment and their activities.
Topical Outline
Foundations of Microbial Environments
a. Air
b. Soil
c. Water
d. Extreme Environments
e. Built Environment
Ecological and Applied Microbiology
a. Transport
b. Biogeochemical Cycles: Carbon, Nitrogen, and Sulfur Cycle
c. Applied Nutrient Cycles
d. Microbial Communities
e. Water Quality: Indicators and Source Tracking
Public Health Microbiology
a. Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment
b. Environmental Pathogens
c. Antimicrobial Resistance
d. Global Change
e. Risk Assessment
Methods for Environmental Microbiology
a. Culture Based Detection
b. Molecular Detection
c. Microscopy
d. Sequencing Technologies
e. Computational Microbiology and Bioinformatics
