The IGPP Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life (CSEOL) at UCLA will convene the World Summit on Ancient Microscopic Fossils to stimulate and encourage high-quality productive research on ancient, Precambrian, microscopic fossils in preparation for return of Martian samples. The Summit thus supports two fundamental goals of the NAI and the astrobiological community: (1) to better understand the history of early life on Earth; and (2) to prepare effectively for the study of samples to be returned from Mars.