“I really like plants and working outside, so that’s what I’ve done.”

Hausbeck has been involved with agriculture all her life, living next door to her grandmother who ran a pickle business with Hausbeck’s father and his brothers in Saginaw.

“Up until the age of 92, my grandmother ran that business,” Hausbeck said. “She was a working woman long before it was commonplace.”

Hausbeck received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MSU before attending Pennsylvania State University for her doctorate.

She returned to MSU as an assistant professor in 1990.

The position would eventually open into a permanent job.

Hausbeck has been working with the agricultural industry to determine the cause of crop diseases.

She has also helped to design research teams to find solutions and in turn, implement them into the agricultural industry.

Her family’s involvement in the agricultural industry has helped Hausbeck understand the problems Michigan’s family farmers are facing.

“My inspiration is the agricultural community,” Hausbeck said.

“They’re some of the hardest working people, so good-hearted and very inspiring. You want to do everything you can to help them be successful.”

With the research Hausbeck and her team are doing, she hopes to help family farmers find ways to remain profitable.

It also is important to allow consumers to continue to buy produce grown locally, which helps support the Michigan agricultural economy, Hausbeck said.

“I want to keep family farms in Michigan,” said Hausbeck.

“They’re a unique part of Michigan’s landscape and an important part of its history, but it’s harder to keep it viable.”