The analytical process of studying urban microbial data, an unexplored field brimming with opportunity — Background While a New York Subway station is bustling with swarms of businessmen, students, artists, and millions of other city-goers every day, its floors, railings, stairways, toilets, walls, kiosks, and benches are teeming with non-human life. The microbial ecosystem, or the complex web of relationships that microorganisms have with one…