If you’ve always dreamed of using a microscope to study fungi, viruses, bacteria, and other organisms that are invisible to the naked eye, there may be no better time to explore the career field known as microbiology.
If you become a microbiologist, your work may even help promote an understanding of the novel coronavirus. If microbiology is your area of interest, rest assured that you have career options to explore.
For example, those who have completed a bachelor’s degree in a qualifying field such as chemistry or biological science, or have a baccalaureate degree with additional training in the aforementioned fields, can get certified as a technologist in microbiology through the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the American Society of Microbiology (ASM).
Individuals who earn the certification come away with a knowledge of how to work as a team with other lab professionals. They also learn how to practice clinical microbiology onsite, and they develop skills in creative and clinical thinking, as well as customer service.
ASM has several inspiring stories from real people working in microbiology today, as well as potential areas technologists may help make headway in understanding important issues that affect humanity. Those areas of study include climate change, the circadian rhythms of bacteria, and infections like yellow fever and HIV, and, of course, the novel coronavirus.
