Friday’s Michigan State University Board of Trustees meeting saw the appointment of a new dean for the College of Engineering and the establishment of a renewable natural gas facility.
The meeting was held at an MSU Extension center in Benton Harbor.
Engineering dean
Following a national search, Interim Engineering Dean John Papapolymerou was approved by the board as dean of the College of Engineering.
Papapolymerou has served as interim dean since Oct. 1, 2024.
He is an MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the MSU Space Electronics Initiative.
Before serving as interim dean, he served as chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for nine years.
Renewable natural gas facility
Located off campus, the renewable natural gas facility will be situated next to the current anaerobic digester, which is also set to be expanded.
This will cost the university $27.7 million.
The expansion of the digester and the addition of the renewable natural gas facility will “double” the capacity of the existing anaerobic digester and will “help meet programmatic goals” for the Dairy Cattle Research and Teaching Center, which was recently constructed about three miles off campus.
The project was approved in December 2025. If passed, the project will be funded through a mix of long-term debt, which will be paid for largely by the project itself. MSU also expects to receive federal tax incentives that could cover up to 40% of the project's eligible costs.
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