Indoor air quality concerns are becoming increasingly important in the United States as a result of a greater awareness of the harm fungi can cause to structures and the people living in those structures. By making our homes and offices more energy efficient and by making heating and ventilation systems more complex we have also created some indoor air quality problems.

Microscopical indoor air investigations are growing rapidly as evidenced by the number of asbestos and other labs getting into the fungal spore identification business. Many companies are growing by 20% a month and cannot find enough qualified microscopists to perform the identification of the fungi..

There is a real need to revitalize the teaching of light microscopy to solve indoor air problems. Fungal spores and pollen are the common culprits that cause indoor air quality problems that can be studied with the light microscope. with proper training, an indoor air quality investigator can make better use of their elegant analytical tool, viz.