“I’m kind of like Microsoft in a way,” said Brad Day, an assistant professor of plant pathology. “They release a first version of a software. I’m looking further into the future on version two or three.”

Day’s singular lab at MSU, and many others, are a microcosms of research, just part of a consortium aimed to take research out of universities and into the hands of people statewide to support the region.

MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University together form the University Research Corridor, or URC.

Almost every day — even on weekends — Day’s laboratory bustles with faculty and students working to uncover how plants fight pathogens and how they can be strengthened to fight off such bacteria.

A version 2.0 or 3.0 and beyond of the lab’s research has the potential to equip local and worldwide farmers with the tools they need to better detect plant illnesses and produce stronger crops, he said.

With Michigan being a leader in agriculture production, Day said research at the university level is important for the livelihood of many across the state.

From plants in a lab to nuclear research, the work performed within the URC, established in 2006, plays a critical role in diversifying the state’s economy, URC Executive Director Jeff Mason said.

“While certainly there is a lot of research that goes on independent of each other, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” Mason said.

Strength in numbers
According to an October 2011 report from the East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group, the three universities enrolled a total of 137,583 degree-seeking students and employed 50,531 full-time workers to help run the institutions during fiscal year 2010.

With these individuals living and working within Michigan, they ultimately contribute to the state’s economy, Mason said. The report figured the URC had a $15.2 billion economic impact — an increase from $12.9 billion in 2006.

And as state appropriations supporting higher education declined during the past several years, $426 million was generated in 2010 state tax revenue, including from alumni.

“(The URC) has helped raise the profile of research to the legislature, but the budget just overwhelms,” said Mark Burnham, MSU vice president for governmental affairs, noting the URC paints a good picture of the latest coming out of higher education.

It isn’t just the three universities of the URC struggling with economic problems.

“The first decade of the 21st century was very difficult for the state of Michigan,” economics professor Charles Ballard said. “Some of the bright spots in that difficult time were associated with the universities.”

With each passing year, research dollars spent within the state increase, Mason said. The URC spent more than $1.9 billion on operations in 2010 — up from $1.37 billion during fiscal year 2006, more than a 30 percent increase.

More than half of those dollars stem from federal sources — such as grants — to employ faculty members, graduate assistants and buy lab equipment, among other reasons, Mason said.

“Without those dollars, we’d be a poorer state,” he said.

With many of these dollars coming from outside the state and circulating within, they not only provide reason for people to learn and work here, but stay here, Mason said, with Ballard adding:
“Success breeds success.”

The report determined 14 startup companies stemmed from the URC in fiscal year 2010, and since 2002, 131 claim credit to the alliance.

“The way to look at it is twofold: (the) direct benefit of what these universities do, creating talent and educating students that go to work for Michigan companies or start up their own companies,” Mason said.

Room to grow
The URC isn’t the largest cluster of research universities, nor is it the most successful. But officials say things are changing.

The URC has been compared to clustered institutions comprising Silicon Valley in southern California and The Research Triangle in North Carolina, among others, Mason said. The most recent report does not compare the URC with these as the release dates of annual financial impacts from each cluster vary, so an additional report from Anderson Economic Group will come out later this year.

But during fiscal years 2008-09, an Anderson report figured the URC grew by 10.1 percent in terms of research dollars spent, ranking No. 2 out of seven clusters behind The Research Triangle.

However, the URC ranks No. 4 in total research dollars spent during 2008-09.

“What you want to do is generate enough momentum to take off … We have the potential,” Ballard said, noting that while the URC is about six years old, others are more than 50 years old.

Roots in agriculture
Within the URC, faculty and students at universities have made strides toward cancer treatments, nuclear research with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams project and more while working together, Ballard said.

But at MSU, many consider the university epicenter of worldwide plant research to be the best, given the institution’s roots as an agricultural college.

Elizabeth Savory, a plant pathology doctoral student, said she’s working on a solution to help farmers prevent a pathogen from destroying cucumbers. She said as Michigan is the No. 1 producer of cucumbers for pickling in the U.S., it is important for those farmers to have the tools to maintain their crop.

“Our goal is to try to figure out what this new version of this pathogen is and what’s making it such a good pathogen so we can help farmers control it,” Savory said.

Beyond cucumbers, she said MSU is the destination for many in terms of plant science research.

“If you want to do something in plant science, you can find someone here who knows how to do it, has done it and is willing to help you do it, which is really fantastic,” Savory said.