3. How did the CBE get started?

The CBE was established in 1990 through a grant from the National Science Foundation as one of fewer than two dozen Engineering Research Centers nationwide. The NSF-ERC program was created to increase U.S. industrial competitiveness and to re-invent science and engineering education in U.S. universities. In order to promote achievement of the ERC program goals, the NSF-ERC program called for the contribution of significant support from ERC universities and industrial partners. The Center for Biofilm Engineering drew support from the state of Montana, Montana State University–Bozeman, and the industrial partners gathered during its pre-1990 work as the Institute for Process Analysis. After its 11-year period of NSF-ERC program support drew to a close, the CBE built on the foundation of its many years of successful government-university-industry collaboration in pursuit of its vision as a world leader in fundamental research, science and engineering education, industrially relevant technology and the synthesis of biofilm-related information.