003 - NatSci News Rewind September 2019 Transcript

You're listening to NatSci New Rewind a podcast that looks back at the monthly news headlines in the world of NatSci. Let's take a look back at the news for the month of September, 2019.

Mathematics department charts a new course for college algebra
More than 2,500 incoming MSU freshmen interested in a STEM career have a new route to success, thanks to a team spearheaded by MSU math instructor Jane Zimmerman and Teena Gerhardt, associate professor of mathematics, who have created a new, two-semester course, MTH103A and 103B, to provide more time for students to master college algebra material.

Finding (microbial) pillars of the bioenergy community
In a new study in Nature Communications, scientists at Michigan State University have focused on understanding more about the plant regions above the soil where these microbes can live, called the “phyllosphere.” Looking at two bioenergy cropping systems: switchgrass and miscanthus, the group, led by MSU's Ashley Shade, made important distinctions about how these communities assemble – and how they’re connected to microbes in the soil.

First MSU Ph.D. student to receive Beinecke African Conservation Scholarship will study Albertine Rift
Samuel Ayebare, a Ph.D. student in MSU's Department of Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior program, is the first MSU student to receive a prestigious Beinecke African Conservation Scholarship from the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Global change is triggering an identity switch in grasslands
Grasslands make up more than 40 percent of the world's ice-free land and have sustained humanity and thousands of other species for eons. In addition to providing food for cattle and sheep, grasslands are home to animals found nowhere else in the wild, such as the bison of North America's prairies or the zebras and giraffes of the African savannas. Grasslands also can hold up to 30 percent of the world's carbon, making them critical allies in the fight against climate change.

New early career award trains world-class postdocs, advances wheels of innovation
Researchers in MSU's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the College of Natural Science are greasing the wheels of innovation with the creation of a transformative new training award for rising postdocs, recruiting researchers early in their careers to be the engines of interdisciplinary research at MSU.

And that will wrap up the rewind for the month of September, 2019. To read more about these stories, head on over to our website at natsci.msu.edu/news. You can also stay up to date by following us on social. You can find us on Twitter @msu_natsci, on Facebook @MSUCNS, and on Instagram @msunatsci. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check us out next month.