Microbes play extraordinarily profound roles in the evolution, biology and biogeochemistry of our planet. For more than 3 billion years, microbes governed the biosphere determining the course of its development from hot, oxygen-free submarine vents to the cool, oxygen-rich systems that predominate today. In spite of the current visual dominance of multicellular plants and animals, microbes continue to control many fundamental biogeochemical cycles, and partially determine the composition of the atmosphere and its role in climate. Microbes also interact intimately with many multicellular organisms, contributing to the acquisition of food resources, digestion and nutrition, health and even reproduction.

In addition, microbes interact in fundamentally important ways with human systems, with both positive and negative consequences. In some cases, microbes are harnessed for useful ends: antibiotic production, food production, bioremediation. In other cases, microbes exacerbate human-caused problems: mobilization of toxic metals, production of toxic organics, greater greenhouse warming.

At the University of Maine, a diverse group of faculty studies numerous aspects of microbial ecology and the role of microbes in environmental problems. Collaborating within "Microbial Ecology - Environmental Microbiology" or MEEM, these faculty provide a wide range of opportunities for undergraduate and graduate education, and for research ranging from molecular to global in scale, with emphases on both basic and applied problems. MEEM faculty welcome inquires from prospective students and collaborators who would like to join our efforts to understand how the microbial world forms the underpinnings for the macroscopic world.