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Michael Carlson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of biological oceanography in the Department of Biological Sciences at Cal State Long Beach.

His research examines how interactions between marine microbes and viruses shape ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. Carlson’s lab uses genomic, physiological, and computational methods—both in the field and in the lab—to explore microbial death, virus-driven predator–prey dynamics, and how microscopic processes influence ocean health and the global carbon cycle.

He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in oceanography from the University of Washington, where he studied diatom–virus systems, and completed a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, investigating cyanobacteria–virus interactions.