In the search for the perfect major, some students choose the road less traveled with uncommon majors, or a unique specialization.
One of these unique career paths, with only two current students, is the Canadian Studies specialization.
It is designed for students who wish to increase their understanding of the processes of social, economic, political and cultural change in Canada and Canada’s international relations.
Senior Kathryn Telford, one of the Canadian Studies students, said she feels the specialization will help her pursue her goals.
“I am a food science major and because there is so much cross-border trade, it’s good marketing for me to understand all the laws and the differences in the two governments,” Telford said.
She hopes her specialization will help her to work in trade for a Canadian company.
Veterinary students also have an unusual option for their studies as well.
The Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation program allows students who have finished Veterinary School to pursue more specialized research in different areas of the field.
Thomas Bell, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, said students of pathobiology are more concerned with looking at diseases that occur, finding ways to diagnose uncommon diseases and performing research to help identify and define bizarre diseases in animals.
Bell said many MSU researchers have been instrumental in diagnosing important diseases that have entered the state.
“Jon Patterson, associate professor, identified the West Nile Virus, which killed people in New York last year, in a bird in Michigan,” Bell said. “The virus is killing our birds and affecting our horses, so it is so important that we know which diseases are around.”
The Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation program has research specialties ranging from the research of tuberculosis in deer, to animal reproductive diseases.
Another unique area of study takes a look at what crawls on the ground, flies through the air and sometimes gets smashed on the windshield.
The entomology program at MSU has around 13 undergraduate and 50 graduate students.
Assistant entomology Chairman Fred Stehr said when people enter the entomology program, they are normally finished with their undergraduate work - like biology or botany - and they want to specialize in a certain area of entomology.
“Entomology is such a huge area of study, most students choose one area to work in, such as aquatic entomology or insects that affect fruit, field crops or forests,” he said.
There are many options for people who want to take part in the field: landscape entomologists, biological control of pests, urban entomologists, insect classification or identification and managing pests, among others.
Andrea Coombs got her master’s of science last May. Since then, she has been working at MSU doing research on the insect plum curculio, an insect involved with orchards.
As an undergraduate, Coombs was a botany major, but after she graduated she decided that insects were more interesting than fungus, and started to study insect behavior.
“I really enjoy science and the exciting part of my job is that it has a direct application in the real world,” she said.
“I am helping growers grow a better crop of apples or cherries and this helps them make more money and also provide a better product to the public.”
