News

Four undergraduate seniors in the Michigan State University College of Natural Science (NatSci) have been nominated for the Marshall Scholarship, a competitive opportunity that funds graduate school in the United Kingdom (UK). Kyleen Hall, Brennan Haugen, Isaac Smith, and Dorothy Zhao are among 10 MSU Honors College students and two alumni nominated this year. Annually, up to 50 students in the United States receive Marshall Scholarships to pursue graduate studies in the UK. Haugen was also nominated for the Mitchell Scholarship, which allows students to pursue a year of graduate study in Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

MSU science education researchers Kevin Haudek, Melanie Cooper, and Rachel Henderson have received a National Science Foundation grant to study the role of Mathematical Sensemaking in Science (MaSS) in undergraduate STEM courses. This collaborative project will develop new assessments to elicit mathematical thinking from biology, chemistry, and physics students. Research results will deepen our understanding of the role of mathematics in undergraduate science education. 

Michigan State University biochemist Jian Hu has taken another important step in learning as much as possible about tiny protein machines that help shuttle metals into living cells. This latest step, published in the journal Nature Communications, provides detailed new insights into how these machines work. Hu and his team are working to use this knowledge to develop new cancer therapies and enable people to live healthier lives. 

Mathematicians at Michigan State will use a five-year, $1.9 million National Science Foundation training grant to amplify the university’s success in math research by creating communities of undergraduates, graduates, post-graduates and faculty working in topology and related mathematical areas. The goal: To create environments that nurture mentorship and connections and ultimately open doors to more inclusivity and broader recruitment.

Samuel Sottile, a senior majoring in advanced mathematics in the Michigan State University College of Natural Science, has been named a Churchill Scholar. The 18th Churchill Scholar from MSU, Sottile places MSU in the top 10 nationally (tied for No. 7) and No. 1 in the Big Ten for Churchill Scholars. This year, 16 Churchill Scholars were selected from 119 applicants and 77 institutions. The Churchill Scholarship supports one year of master’s study at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, England.

MSU mathematician Keith Promislow was named a 2022 SIAM Fellow for his contributions to rigorous asymptotic reductions, development of novel models and their applications, and service to the industrial and applied mathematics community by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).