James Tiedje and Michael Thomashow's minds could be tapped by the United States government to consult on science policy issues.
That's one of the perks of being elected to the National Academy of Sciences, an elite pool of U.S. scientists and engineers who assist the government.
Tiedje is a MSU distinguished professor of crop and soil sciences and Thomashow is a professor of crop and soil sciences and of microbiology. Tiedje has been a part of MSU since 1968 and Thomashow joined the faculty in 1986.
Both men join with seven other MSU members as part of the 1,922-strong academy, which was created by Congress in 1863 under President Abraham Lincoln's administration. The private organization welcomed 72 new members this year.
New members are nominated without their knowledge, so both Tiedje and Thomashow said it is a surprise to hear they would be joining the prestigious academy.
"They couldn't reach me because I was actually on a farm in Iowa," Tiedje said. "I had 50 (e-mail) messages of congratulations, so I knew it was true."
Thomashow said he was contacted by an former colleague with the news.
"Most scientists, I think, have in the back of their mind that it would be special to be elected," he said. "There's a lot of qualified people who don't get elected."
Thomashow has studied how plants sense changes in the environment and how they activate mechanisms to tolerate cold and drought.
"We've developed a stress response pathway," he said, adding cold and drought are the major limitations to annual crop yield and where crops can be grown.
"If you look over the next 30 years it will be increasingly hard to produce enough to keep up with world population," Thomashow said.
By understanding the molecular basis and mechanisms of these plants, people can transfer genes of choice to improve their stress tolerance.
Tiedje is recognized for his work understanding the metabolism of microbodies for pollutants such as Polychlorinated Biphenyls, or PCBs, and chlorinated solvents.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site, about 1.5 billion pounds of PCBs were used before production of the pollutant was canceled by Congress under the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1976.
Tiedje's research allows the microbodies to be used to clean up contaminated materials at sites around the United States.
"They would destroy the polluted material," he said.
Tiedje earned his doctorate degree in soil microbiology and biochemistry from Cornell University and is also the director of the MSU Center for Microbial Ecology.
Thomashow earned his doctorate degree in microbiology from the University of California-Los Angeles and is a member of the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory.
