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News

Plants sprouting from small planters

How Plants Respond to Environmental Threats with Proper Defense

A study from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) Howe lab looks at how plants respond to environmental threats in the correct way.
Wild fern leaves

Scientists Identify Win-Win Situations with Biodiversity and Farming

Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, or CSIS, identify ways for landowners in rural areas to be able to capitalize on win-win situations, whether they have fruitful land or not.
Climate Change Graphic

MSU Scientists Find Plants' Ability to Fight Climate Change is Weakening

New research indicating that plants' ability to absorb carbon dioxide may have stalled, suggesting that perhaps we shouldn't put all our climate mitigation hopes in too many plant-based strategies either, at least for the time being.
Plant in focus with a blurred background

Rhee Receives NSF Grant to Study Plant Metabolism

Seung Yon (Sue) Rhee, Director of the Plant Resilience Institute, is researching the processes underpinning plant metabolism and how the process relates to other areas of plant biology.
Rays of sunshine beaming through a wooded area

MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab Awarded $12M Grant Renewal

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory a $12M competitive renewal grant to continue research in photosynthetic energy capture, conversion and storage.
Cancer cell being targeted by nanoparticles

Using Prussian Blue Nanoparticles to Diagnose and Treat Brain Cancer

Meghan Hill is a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her studies involve Prussian Blue nanoparticles and how they can impact cancer research.
Younsuk Dong and associates stand under the LOCOMOS system

Increasing Crop Yield and Reducing Water Consumption with Precision Irrigation

Younsuk Dong, an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist at the MSU Department of Biosystem and Agricultural Engineering, has created a system that will improve irrigation and plant disease management
image of river from above

Climate Change Threatens Asia’s Water Tower

MSU researchers are identifying policy changes that need to happen now to prepare for the future impacts projected by climate models. The rapid melting of glaciers and snowpack due to regional temperature increases has caused an unprecedented decline in water availability. This creates cascading impacts on water, food and energy security.
Announcements
Ogunwobi Named Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences
Internationally renowned cancer researcher Olorunseun “Seun” Ogunwobi, MD, PhD, has been elected a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). Ogynwobi is chair of Michigan State University’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and co-director of the Center for Cancer Health Equity Research.
Gordon Named Fellow of the American Academy of Osteopathy
Travis Gordon, D.O., MSc, an assistant professor and alumnus of Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, has been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Osteopathy. He will be formally recognized at the AAO Convocation in March 2026.
Jain to Help India Update National ID (Aadhaar) Innovation Roadmap
Anil Jain, University Distinguished Professor and the Douglas E. Zongker Endowed Professor of Engineering at Michigan State University, has joined a panel of experts for a strategic and technological upgrade of India’s digital identity platform.
Belin Joins MSU as the Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in North American Indian and Indigenous Literary Studies
A citizen of the Navajo Nation and an acclaimed poet, artist, and educator, Esther Belin joined Michigan State University this fall as the new Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in North American Indian and Indigenous Literary Studies in the Department of English. She is the second scholar to hold this position, following Gordon Henry, who retired in 2023 after serving as the inaugural Leslie Chair.
Khalil Receives National ASME Medal for Lifetime Achievements
Hassan K. Khalil was presented the 2025 ASME Rufus Oldenburger Medal — the highest honor presented by ASME in the field of automatic control — during the ASME Modeling, Estimation and Control Conference in October in Pittsburgh, Penn.