
About our Symbol









We have adopted the Greek letter "µ" as representative of our department and of our field of study. The letter "µ" is a symbol for the scientific prefix micro-, which indicates one millionth of a unit of measure. This is quite appropriate for Microbiology (or µBiology) as the size of the organisms we study are on the order of 1 µm (a.k.a. micron - a millionth of a meter), or smaller. In addition, the Greek letter µ is spelled mu, which is also an abbreviation for Miami University (M.U.) Taken together, µ for micro and M.U. for Miami University gives us µmu as shorthand for Microbiology at Miami University.