MSU's vice president for research and graduate studies will leave the university after seven years to follow his environmental research interests.

Bob Huggett will head back to his original research in environmental studies at the end of this school year.

"I've been in academia for 35 years, and it's time to do something else," he said. "I'll be working with private companies and foundations doing some research on the environment: designing research projects."

Huggett's career began in the late 1960s, when he studied pesticides and their effects. In 1972, he switched his focus to trace metals and was later involved in studying the first compound ever to be banned by the United States Congress, ketone.

In the 1980s, he researched cancer-causing chemicals found in oil and then became interested in a compound used to keep barnacles away from boats in the early 1990s.

"It turned out to be probably the most toxic compound ever to be released into the environment," Huggett said.

In 1994, he was asked by President Clinton to head up the United States' research efforts. Although he was excited about the opportunity to work in a program that involved about 2,000 people in 13 laboratories across the country, Huggett said he was "scared and very flattered."

Huggett came to MSU in 1997 through an external search into the position of vice president for research and graduate studies.

"My job has been to facilitate or to make sure that the research efforts at MSU are as easy and seamless as possible," Huggett said. "MSU has some wonderful faculty, and the staff that I've had to work with have been just absolutely incredible."

Huggett said he's leaving MSU with a positive attitude and is looking forward to the future.

"I've just never given up my environmental interest," he said. "But I'm very proud to be associated with MSU."

MSU Provost Lou Anna Simon said no replacement, interim or otherwise, has been chosen. It's up to MSU President M. Peter McPherson to consult the Executive Committee of Academic Council to begin the search.

"We just want to build on the strong foundation across the university in terms of research portfolio," Simon said, adding that Huggett's contributions to the university will be missed.

"We've benefited from his own passion for research, as well as his experience in Washington (D.C.)," she said. "He's brought a coherence to our work on research compliance, and he's partnered with the provost's office, the colleges and the faculty to support our research directions."

Kimberly Yake, president of the Council of Graduate Students, said Huggett's positive effects on the university will be noticed for years.

"He's made a lot of contributions while he's been here at MSU, through research and graduate studies," she said. "I wish him the best in his future endeavors, and hopefully we'll find someone for the position who can continue his work."