021 - NatSci News Rewind March 2021 Transcript

You're listening to NatSci News 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 March 2021.

NatSci Office of Academic and Student Affairs promotions bolster student success efforts, leadership diversity
Michigan State University’s College of Natural Science has promoted three staff members in its Academic and Student Affairs Office—Heidi Purdy, Janae Lawler and Danielle Flores Lopez—to acknowledge their outstanding leadership and contributions, and to expand and strengthen the college’s student success efforts.

Project-based learning deepens knowledge in science for 3rd graders in Michigan
In a recent edition of The Conversation, Joseph Krajcik, MSU Lappan-Phillips Professor of Science Education and director of the CREATE for STEM Institute, along with MSU colleague Barbara Schneider, John A. Hannah Chair in the College of Education and the Department of Sociology, share their findings around project-based learning and how it expands students' understanding of scientific concepts and their social-emotional skills. 

Two College of Natural Science students awarded Goldwater Scholarships
Two undergraduate students in the MSU College of Natural Science are recipients of the nationally competitive Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Charles Hultquist, a junior majoring in physics and advanced mathematics and Andrew McDonald, a junior majoring in statistics and advanced mathematics and computer science in the College of Engineering, represent MSU’s 48th and 49th Goldwater Scholars. Both are Honors College students.

MSU researcher awarded NIH grant to study how unknown genes contribute to cholera pandemics
Uncovering the genetics behind a six-decade long cholera pandemic is being funded with a $2.8 million National Institutes of Health grant awarded to MSU microbiologist Chris Waters. The research project will investigate 36 genes key to the persistence of cholera to increase understanding of how bacterial pandemics surface as well as boost development of new viral therapies to treat bacterial infections.

First-of-its-kind manuscript collection published to strengthen, unify physiology degree programs
Under the direction of MSU physiologist Erica Wehrwein, the Physiology Majors Interest Group (P-MIG) published 14 manuscripts in a special collection of papers featured in Advances in Physiology Education. The papers in this first-of-its-kind special collection represent the culmination of recent P-MIG efforts and capture the breadth of the group’s work, including its history and purpose.

Complex biological phenomenon may have a surprisingly simple explanation
Life is messy, even at microscopic and molecular level, but MSU researchers, led by Michael Feig and Lisa Lapidus, have shown that some straightforward science can still account for important biological behavior. The team showed that relatively simple characteristics help RNA and proteins organize themselves. Researchers believe that when these biomolecules congregate, or condense, it can help speed up or enhance a range of cellular functions. Their results were recently published in the journal eLife.

Reading between the diamonds: MSU scientists expand deep carbon story
In a paper recently published in Nature Communications, scientists in Susannah Dorfman’s Experimental Mineralogy Lab at Michigan State University redefined the conditions under which carbonates can exist in the earth’s lower mantle, adding to our understanding of the deep carbon cycle and the earth’s evolution.

MSU scientists one million "hops" closer to ending disease endemic in cattle
MSU microbiologist Sean Crosson and colleague Aretha Fiebig brought sophisticated genomics tools from the lab to the field in a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Using unique, barcoded bacteria, they gained new insight into Brucellosis, a deadly disease capable of infecting humans that has been circulating among cows in the United States for a hundred years.

NatSci receives MSUFCU Dean's Choice Award
The College of Natural Science is the recipient of a $2,500 Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) Dean’s Choice grant to support its NatSci Undergraduate Emergency Assistance Fund. The MSUFCU Dean's Choice program recognizes academic excellence and provides MSU deans with funds to allocate toward competitive academic programs in their colleges.

Can crops become more efficient?
Plants were evolving for hundreds of millions of years before humans started cultivating them for food. So when the first farmers showed up some 12,000 years ago, plants had already picked up some inefficiencies — that is, adaptations that helped the plants survive but also limited their productivity as crops. Today, some of those inefficiencies appear to be getting worse as the planet warms. MSU's Berkley Walker and Eastern Michigan University's Aaron Liepman are leading an NSF grant project to better understand one of those inefficiencies with the hopes of turning the tide.

Six NatSci faculty members, graduate students recognized with All-University Awards
Six Michigan State University College of Natural Science (NatSci) faculty members and graduate students have received 2020-2021 All-University Awards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to education and research.

Adaptation, not irrigation recommended for Midwest corn farmers
A warming climate may not increase water demand for Midwest crops that may instead be adapted through soil management to changing air temperatures and moisture, said MSU scientists helping farmers manage the challenge.The research team, led by ecosystems scientist Bruno Basso, found that the Midwest is in a unique location that typically receives ample rainfall and has deep soil, ideal for farming. Their results were published March 5 in the journal Nature Communications

MSU's Elena Litchman lands prestigious award for scientific excellence in aquatic ecology
Elena Litchman, professor of aquatic ecology at Michigan State University, is the recipient of the 2021 G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). The award is presented each year to a limnologist or oceanographer who has made considerable contributions to knowledge, and whose future work promises a continued legacy of scientific excellence.

And that will wrap up the rewind for the month of March 2021. 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.