Overview

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for nearly 170 years.

But today, the world requires more from us. The pace is faster and the problems more complex. The ability to anticipate change and respond nimbly is crucial, and it will differentiate the 21st century’s leading institutions of higher education.

Through the MSU Global Impact Initiative, MSU has recruited some 100 new faculty investigators to our research team to help accelerate finding solutions to the recognized “Grand Challenges.”

This comprehensive investment focuses on new and enhanced research endeavors around energy, health, education, the environment, national security, and global development. Concurrently, this initiative will propel Michigan State University forward, allowing the research enterprise to grow and faculty to aggressively pursue big ideas, innovation, and global impact.

We invite you to learn more and share our enthusiasm as we tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.

Background

In June 2014, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees approved the Academic Competitiveness Fund (ACF) to provide resources for hiring tenure system faculty who will enhance the national and international excellence and competitiveness of MSU as a research university. From this resource, the Global Impact Initiative was launched with a goal to recruit 100 new faculty in some of the most exciting new areas of research.

The Global Impact Initiative continues to make excellent progress in bringing the best and brightest faculty to MSU. Over the last several years, the Office of the Provost and the Office of Research and Innovation have worked with individual colleges and departments to conduct searches focused on key areas of innovation, such as machine learning, precision medicine, computational genomics, autonomous vehicles, advanced materials, gene-editing, advanced plant science, and more. Nearly all of those positions have been filled, with candidates hired from Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Johns Hopkins University, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, and many other top institutions.

Phase two of the initiative (GII 2.0), was approved by the Board of Trustees in June 2024 and aligns new positions with research themes outlined in MSU 2030 Strategic Plan.