The goal of this course is to give students exposure to the concept of microbial engineering and bio-process design for the extraction of natural and heterologous products. Through this course, students will be exposed to a style of scientific inquiry which is active rather than diagnostic, aimed at identifying what components of natural systems can be useful and how can we act to manipulate them in way that have value to society. Students will be introduced to the topics of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering from a practical perspective, and walkthroughs of workflows in standard microbial engineering problems will be undertaken. The course is designed to help students think like a biotechnologist and learn to use natural processes for human value. There will be 7 weeks of lecture, 6 weeks of lab, and 2 weeks of invited speakers that are aimed at enriching the student experience beyond the classroom.