Chapter 42 : Always Teaching, Always Learning

Abstract:

Looking back, the author can see the path with all its twists and turns that has led him to his current position in microbiology. It has been a career path full of serendipity and surprises. His fascination with science and microorganisms began early. A career as a physician, not as a scientist, seemed the likely career path as the author went off to college. During his graduate years, the author learned a great deal about what was involved in being a microbiologist. There were the courses, but, more important, there was the laboratory. Initially, the author tried to work on two projects—one a physiologic project on the requirement for nickel by hydrogen-utilizing bacteria and the other an ecological project on the microbial utilization of petroleum hydrocarbons. The author's interest in teaching has also led him to write textbooks. When he began teaching microbial ecology, only a few textbooks had been written in that field, and the author tried teaching using only handouts and assigned readings. The students objected, and the author soon found himself writing a microbial ecology textbook with Richard Bartha, which was completed after years of hard work.