The establishment of the CBE launched biofilms as a field of specialized research

The Center for Biofilm Engineering was the first center of excellence focused on biofilms and was originally funded through the Engineering Research Center Program from the U.S. National Science Foundation. After almost 30 years, biofilm continues to be a stand-alone scientific topic of inquiry that has broad implications for fundamental and applied science and engineering of bio-systems. However, much remains to be done, not only for research discovery but also education and outreach, to increase and grow the biofilm paradigm as well as our understanding of the microbial world.