Topics in Ecological and Environmental Microbiology

Dr. Schmidt has been investigating the structure, function, and dynamics of microbial communities in natural ecosystems for over 20 years, most recently focusing on microbial communities in the human GI tract. He brings the perspective gained from being EIC of the 4th Edition of the Encyclopedia of Microbiology along with the experience he has gained studying diverse microbes and microbial communities. His research group helped pioneer the methods for culture-independent analyses of microbial communities and they continue to refine and apply those methods using ecological theories as a basis to track microbial populations in nature. In 2015, he refocused his research from agroecosystems to the human gut microbiome and is studying the impact of dietary fibers on the structure and function of human gut microbiome. His goal is to engineer the human gut microbiome to reduce inflammation, including through the use of dietary fiber supplements. Dr Schmidt guides a research laboratory that is recognized for expertise in the isolation and study of pure cultures of microbes and communities of microbes both in vitro and in vivo. Dr. Schmidt is an elected member of the American Academy for Microbiology, is a former director of the internationally acclaimed Woods Hole Microbial Diversity Course and has been awarded the Graduate Teaching Award from the American Society for Microbiology, the university wide Teacher-Scholar award at Michigan State University, and most recently the Provost’s Innovation Prize for outstanding teaching at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Schaechter is a Distinguished Professor, Emeritus at Tufts University, where he served as chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology from 1970 to 1993. He has worked on bacterial growth physiology and the relationship of the chromosome and the bacterial cell membrane. He has authored ten treatises and textbooks, most in collaboration with others, plus a book for the general public, In the Company of Mushrooms. He has served as President of the American Society for Microbiology. Currently, he is Adjunct Professor Emeritus, Biology Department, at San Diego State University and Visiting Scholar at the University of California, San Diego.