Online Degrees

Microbiology Degrees

Salaries For Degrees in Microbiology

Those who majored in Microbiology can be employed in a variety of occupations.  It is impossible to say what you personally will do with a degree in Microbiology, our survey panel picked the following jobs as likely options:

Students with a degree in Microbiology are considered well prepared for becoming Forensic science technicians.

The median salary for people with a degree in Microbiology is $52,804.58.  The lifetime value of this degree is approximately $1,313,726.00.

Salaries are highly dependent on individual negotiating skill, seniority in the field, your employer, location, and more besides.  The estimates we show on these pages are just that: estimates.  Your individual experience will likely vary.

Where does this come from?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a unit of the US government, classifies all workers into some 800-odd occupational categories.  We paid a team of freelancers to get their opinion on what type of degree a holder of each type of job would likely have majored in.  For pairs which had a high degree of consensus, we created a link between the degree and the job.

From this, we calculated the average salary for Microbiology degrees and converted it into a lifetime value.  We then compared it against other degrees at the same level of schooling (such as associate's, bachelor's, or master's), so that you can make informed educational and employment decisions.

What Can a Microbiology Student Expect to Learn?

Microbiology is a branch of biology that studies microorganisms and how they affect human beings, animals, plants, and the environment. Microorganisms are organisms like viruses, bacteria, yeast, algae, molds, protozoans, fungi, prokaryotes, and protists that are invisible to the naked eye. There are many aspects to microbial research including correlating knowledge with other disciplines like biochemistry, molecular biology, and pathogenicity.

Since microbes are too small to be seen unaided, special techniques are used to isolate and cultivate them, including observing stained specimens under a microscope, cultivating and isolating them in an agar medium, or detecting the immunological reaction of antibodies to them.

Microbiologists are scientists who seek to classify microorganisms, study their structure and function, and learn how to control them. Ultimately, the aim of a microbiologist is to discover how microbes affect the environment and create disease.

Microbiology is the study of a broad variety of microorganisms and a student will study numerous topics related to them like morphogenesis, metabolism, microbial growth, pathogenesis, and nutrition. In addition, in order to better understand microbiology, students must become familiar with other pure science subjects like chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics.

Career Specializations

Since the result of these studies help produce antibiotics, microbiologists may find careers in organizations focused on environmental toxicology, medical research, and public health. The findings of microbiology can also be applied in improving the health standards in industrial food production.

A graduate of microbiology is in high demand because of his or her highly specialized education and can find well-paying work in laboratories owned by either the government or the private sector.

Besides preparing a student for rewarding and lucrative work microbiology, students can also opt for more advanced education to prepare for a role in the health professions, education system, and biological sciences.

By focusing on the tiniest organisms that exist, students also learn more about such fields as genetics, metabolism, biology, and physiology because very small organisms are similar in many ways to bigger organisms. Microorganisms are easier to study in a laboratory because of their simple structures, functions, and rate of growth and provide valuable clues on how more highly-organized and complex organisms function.

Microbiology has distinct divisions of study like drug manufacture, parasitological studies, immunology, virology, genetics, and microbial physiology.

Online Schools Offering Accredited Microbiology Degree Programs

It is possible to get an excellent education online for a microbiology degree, including attending video conferences or listening to teleseminars offered by prominent microbiologists. A person can get a bachelor, master, doctoral, or post doctoral degree in this field. Since many universities cannot accommodate all students in a classroom, they offer online degree programs to allow people to attend from all over the world.

Here is a list of some excellent online degree schools in microbiology.

• A.T. Still University
• AIU Online
• Ashford University
• Ashworth College in Canada
• Ashworth College in the US
• Benedictine University
• Berkeley College
• Brookline College
• California InterContinental University
• Capella University
• Champlain College
• Colorado Technical University Online
• Florida Tech University
• Grand Canyon University
• Grantham University
• Harrison College
• Herzing University Online
• Independence University
• Ivy Bridge College of
• University of Phoenix
• Utica College
• Villanova University Online
• Virginia College
• Walden University Online
• Western Governor's University

Top Colleges & Universities Offering Campus-based Microbiology Degrees

Here is a list of some excellent nationally-recognized universities that offer a degree in microbiology.

• Alabama State University
• Arizona State University
• California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo
• California State Polytechnic University in Pomona
• California State University in Chico
• California State University in Long Beach
• California State University in Los Angeles
• Clemson University
• Colorado State University
• Idaho State University

Famous Microbiologists

In 1676, Anton van Leeuwenhoek (pictured right) was the first person to see bacteria using a microscope that he had designed, but it was not until 1828, that another scientist, Ehrenberg, named these microscopic creatures “bacterium,” meaning a “small stick.” Although Anton van Leeuwenhoek is credited as creating the field of microbiology, it was actually Robert Hooke, in 1665, who made the first microbiological observations when he examined molds.

Ferdinand Cohn, 1828-1898, created the branch of microbiology we now know as bacteriology. He discovered numerous bacteria, like Bacillus, by studying algae, and he was the first scientist to create a taxonomy to classify the different types of bacteria.

Medical Microbiology

Two contemporaries of Ferdinand Cohn, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, created the field of medical microbiology.

Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895, disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and consolidated the role of microbiology as a legitimate branch of biology. He also created pasteurization and designed vaccines to prevent the spread of diseases like rabies, fowl cholera, and anthrax.

Robert Koch, 1834-1910, further elaborated on how diseases were caused by germs, proving that diseases were caused by specific microorganisms. His criteria, called Koch’s postulates, created the foundation for the study of germ theory. He was the first person to isolate bacteria in a culture and he discovered the pathogenic microorganism behind tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

General Microbiology

The field of microbiology was considerably expanded by two other scientists, Martinus Beijerinck and Sergei Winogradsky. Since Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch were focused on the medical application of microorganisms, they missed many details about the intricate world of microorganisms. This new, deeper, more detailed study of microorganisms came to be called General Microbiology, which was a combination of the disciplines of microbial ecology, diversity, and physiology. Martinus Beijerinck ,1851–1931, discovered viruses and techniques on how to develop an enriched culture. Virology is a result of his study of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. He was also the first person to observe that microbes displayed many different types of physiologies.

Serge Winogradsky, 1856–1953, discovered how microorganisms affected geochemical processes, developed the idea of chemolithotrophy, and isolated and described nitrogen-fixing and nitrifying bacteria.