Every year, Michigan’s most influential leaders gather on Mackinac Island during the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference to discuss critical issues shaping the state’s future. This year, Michigan State University hosted a panel of experts to underscore the vital role federal research funding plays in driving breakthroughs like improving pancreatic cancer survival rates and tackling major public health crises, including the Flint Water Crisis.

“Across Michigan’s four major research universities, federal funding powers $2 billion in research annually. It supports close to 25,000 jobs here in Michigan, generating more than $8.3 billion in total economic impact,” said MSU President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., in his opening remarks. “And in the process, we’re training the nation’s next generation of scientists and technologists. Over 42% of federally funded research staff at our Michigan research universities are students.”

Moderated by the Detroit News’ politics editor and columnist Chad Livengood, the panel brought together three leaders to discuss the critical juncture facing higher education research: Mona Hanna, renowned pediatrician, MSU associate dean for Public Health and C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health; Howard Crawford, senior scientist at Henry Ford Health and a pancreatic cancer researcher; and Matt Elliott, founder of Blue Lake Ideas and co-chair of MSU’s Green and White Council.