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News

Welcome to the NatSci news page! Check back often to learn about the latest innovations, discoveries and accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students and alumni.

This stream in the Brooks Range of Arctic Alaska is one of many sites where Jay Zarnetske works to help understand water resources. Data and discoveries from this stream, like countless other studies around the world, are archived and made accessible to all via open-access resources supported by CUAHSI.
April 30, 2023
Jay Zarnetske, associate professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Natural Science, has been elected chair of the board of directors for the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI). CUAHSI is a nonprofit organization with more than 160 member institutions that facilitates the interdisciplinary advancement of water science globally
Rita Dandridge (B.S., mathematics, ’89), senior director at Willis Towers Watson (pictured here) MC’d this year’s annual awards program. Nearly 100 individuals attended the MSU College of Natural Science annual awards program on April 21 to acknowledge alumni, faculty and students for outstanding achievements and excellence. The event was held at The Graduate in downtown East Lansing, Mich., across from the MSU campus.
April 29, 2023
Nearly 100 individuals attended the Michigan State University College of Natural Science annual awards program on April 21 to acknowledge alumni, faculty and students for outstanding achievements and excellence. The event was held at the Graduate hotel in East Lansing, Mich., across from the MSU campus.
College of Natural Science Dean Phil Duxbury stands on stage in front of attendees to off the 13th Annual Classes Without Quizzes at WKAR Studio A in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building—a new venue for the event.The stage has a green and white MSU backdrop and the screen says Welcome to Classses Without Quizzes with a NatSci logo on it.
April 28, 2023
MSU’s College of Natural Science held its 13th annual Classes Without Quizzes on April 22 at WKAR Studio A in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building—a new venue for the event. More than 100 alumni, friends and guests attended the event (a hybrid of in-person and online). CWQ gives participants a chance to meet with NatSci faculty members and students, while getting an insider’s look at some of the latest research activities being undertaken on the MSU campus.
Members of the MSU Observatory Research Program wave from inside the observatory, beneath a 24-inch telescope.
April 27, 2023
In addition to MSU physics and astronomy faculty members contributions to NASA's efforts to be ready to redirect incoming space rocks or asteroids, the MSU Observatory is enabling undergraduates to generate important data for the astronomy community while gaining valuable skills and experience in an increasingly competitive field. In doing so, they’re setting themselves and future generations of Spartan students up for success.  
Bongolo Falls along the Louetsí River (Lebamba, Gabon) creates a fast-flowing habitat where both short duration and long duration mormyrids reside, capturing food and singing electric courtship songs at night. How their sperm and eggs meet in such environments remains a mystery.
April 26, 2023
Michigan State University integrative biologist Jason Gallant and colleagues are using nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation to understand the implications from a small African fish which evolved to have sperm with no tails but an electric-powered mating call. Greater insight into this interesting trait could ultimately shed light on human disease and shake up biology lessons on traditional gender roles.
Damselflies live on the submerged aquatic plants that you can see growing just under the surface of the water at Pond 9 at the Lux Arbor Reserve.
April 26, 2023
Climate changes are conjuring a whirlwind ride that seems to present some creatures opportunities to thrive. Scientists scripting supercharged scenarios caution that the difference between seasonal coping and long-term adaption is vast – and tricky to predict. Michigan State University biologists are studying damselflies to understand how other species will respond to a warmer world. Their findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The College of Natural Science at Michigan State University is home to 27 departments and programs in the biological, physical, and mathematical sciences. The college provides world-class educational opportunities to more than 5,500 undergraduate majors and 1,200 graduate and postdoctoral students. There are 868 faculty and academic staff associated with NatSci, and more than 63,000 living alumni worldwide. Credit: Michael D.-L. Jordan
April 21, 2023
Thirty-five (35) College of Natural Science graduating students were among a record-breaking 206 graduating students recognized by the Michigan State University Board of Trustees for achieving the highest scholastic average—a 4.0 GPA—this semester.
The Great IDEA Fellowship Program was created to foster greater inclusivity and promote IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility) efforts in STEM.
April 14, 2023
Finding time away from research and teaching can be daunting for graduate students and faculty. Which is why last fall, Amy Ralston, NatSci associate dean of graduate studies, decided to create the Great IDEA Fellowship Program to foster greater inclusivity and promote IDEA efforts in STEM. The program incentivizes mentors and grad students to spend some time away from their research to focus on inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility, or IDEA.
The Lyrid meteor shower is an annual meteor shower that is a result of debris that crosses our orbit from the long-period comet known as Comet Thatcher. It was last seen in our inner solar system in 1861, but the debris it left behind continues to cross our orbit. The Lyrids tend to occur each year in late April. Credit: vincentiu-solomon-ln5drpv_imi-unsplash
April 13, 2023
Shannon Schmoll, science education and astronomy expert and director of the Abrams Planetarium at MSU, offers insight to the upcoming Lyrid meteor shower expected between April 16 and 25 in this Ask the Expert column.
The College of Natural Science (NatSci) at Michigan State University is home to 27 departments and programs in the biological, physical and mathematical sciences.
April 10, 2023
The Global Community for Academic Advising, or NACADA, has selected two advisors in the College of Natural Science (NatSci) at Michigan State University for 2023 Region 5 Excellence in Advising Awards. Dorali Rebollo, human biology and pre-health advisor will receive the New Advisor Award and Kate Thome, human biology and pre-health advisor, will be honored with the Primary Role Advisor Award.

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