The microbiome has been advertised as an alluring ‘solution’ in every sector from agriculture and carbon sequestration to human health and global sustainability. While the study of microbiomes is a promising field, in most sectors we are far from implementing our knowledge of these complex and diverse microbial systems into real-time solutions. There are a number of clear obstacles that hinder progress. First, much of microbial diversity still remains undescribed. While the advent and development of high-throughput sequencing has made significant progress, it is arguably still in its primary years, what will another decade bring? Second, there is a lack of congruency between the many disparate microbial datasets. Whether we are contemplating the microbiome of the soil, leaves, animal gut and skin or the air, there is insufficient cross talk between scientists in these fields, and even less sharing of data. Finally, due to the rapid progression of microbiome research, students and researchers may find themselves ill prepared to process and analyze microbiome data. Thus, without proper training and preparation, translating microbiome research and findings to implement solutions remains a significant knowledge gap. In this INSPIRE session, we will bring together microbiome students and researchers from the many disciplines of ecology to share their research with a focus on providing solutions to global challenges. We will specifically focus on early career ecologists (current MS and PhD Students) and educators who have personal experience in teaching microbiome analyses and can offer solutions to integrating these skills into biology curriculums.