To those who knew him, no one was as devoted to MSU as William Faunce. Simply called Bill by his friends and family, the former MSU sociology professor and chairperson had a connection with the school from a young age, something he carried with him until his death from liver cancer July 3 at the age of 83.
A study led by an MSU professor asserts that Asian carp could pose serious damage to the Great Lakes ecosystem if they spread across the region’s waterways. University distinguished professor in fisheries and wildlife Bill Taylor’s research indicates the voracious species of fish could threaten existing fish populations in the state’s lakes and harm water systems and various commercial and recreational fisheries. “You know it’s big when academics and the management community say we don’t need five more years of study,” Taylor said in a statement. Taylor worked with three other researchers from institutions across the country to study the effects of potential Asian carp proliferation, examining key assertions from policymakers along the way. Taylor and his research team disputed claims by policymakers who say electrical barriers are an effective means of preventing the fish from entering lake waters, among other things. The most notable of those electrical barriers operates in rivers near Chicago.
Dave Closs still remembers when he first met Don Bowersox. Closs was an MSU undergraduate student when he started working with Bowersox on computer simulation games for conferences decades ago. Closs and many others in the academic community were struck by the death of the 79-year-old Bowersox at his Traverse City, Mich., summer home on Monday.
MSU Extension is partnering with the Wayne County Airport Authority, or WCAA, to grow bioenergy crops to promote alternative fuels in aviation. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Willow Run Airport have begun growing, harvesting and processing biofuels to explore greener options for aviation fuel.
For Hunter Gartner and his teammates, creating Minute Escape, a pie à la mode dish, was not as easy as pie. Minute Escape is an all-in-one apple pie and custard ice cream dessert prepared in one minute by microwaving it. Gartner, a recent graduate, used patent-pending technology he designed to heat the pie up while keeping the ice cream portion of the product frozen. “It’s an interesting, intriguing concept to think that you can throw ice cream into the microwave and that it will be kept frozen,” alumna and team member Rebecca Watts said. The product was created to compete in the Institute of Food Technologists’, or IFT, National Product Development competition. IFT is a nonprofit scientific society whose members are professionals engaged in food science and technology. One of the main purposes of the competition is to afford food industry representatives the opportunity to spot talented students for potential employment, IFT’s director of media relations Mindy Weinstein said in an email. Minute Escape took first place out of six finalists in the competition, which took place in New Orleans June 11-14. “Finding out that we won, there was a huge sense of pride,” Watts said.
Students interested in learning more about the environment surrounding them have something to look forward to in coming weeks when a smartphone application that turns MSU into a virtual museum will be released. The application, titled msu.seum, was developed for both Android and iPhone operating systems and will allow users to explore the history and archeology of areas on campus.
Demolition of Cherry Lane Apartments and the Faculty Bricks complex will begin Tuesday as the university looks to replace the aging structures with green space.
Starting in mid-August, approximately 500-600 red bricks salvaged during the demolition of the historic MSC smokestack will be available for purchase at the MSU Surplus Store. Gail DeGood, a spokesperson for the MSU Surplus Store, said the bricks will be sold at either $25 or $50 a piece and will include a certificate of authenticity.
The university’s Kellogg Center is slated to receive a face-lift if construction proceeds as expected this August. Work at the hotel and conference center — approved at the Board of Trustees’ June 17 meeting — is slated to cost about $2.24 million, university officials said. The hotel’s conference rooms will be the prime focus of several of the renovations, university engineer Bob Nestle said. The building’s corridor spaces, ceiling, lighting and wall finishes also will be redone, Nestle said. “It’s mostly aesthetic-type work,” he said. Nestle said much of the work will be completed in phases to coordinate with the center’s busy conference and meeting schedule. Construction on the facility’s meeting rooms — the majority of which is expected to be completed by August 2012 — will be handled by the Physical Plant, Nestle said. As the center is prepared for that work, some of Kellogg’s dining areas already are undergoing renovations.
The 15th Annual Muelder Summer Carillon Series began without a hitch Wednesday as more than 150 people spread blankets and lawn chairs under clear blue skies to listen to the tolling chimes of Beaumont Tower.
As a typical college eater, Peter Farragher, an accounting senior, said it is tough to maintain a healthy diet with a busy schedule, and convenience sometimes leads to eating the worst food. While he could be healthier, eating fruits and vegetables can be tough because they go bad before he finds time to eat them, and delivery services usually don’t offer them, he said.
Anthropology senior Matthew O’Hagan spent weeks meticulously shaving layers of dirt in the shadow of Beaumont Tower, hoping to find a telling remnant that would give insight into the early students of MSU.
MSU faculty member Gary Reid received the Michigan Association of Broadcasters’, or MAB’s, highest honor at the organization’s annual conference on Mackinac Island Monday night. Reid, who serves as a distinguished senior academic specialist in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, received a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the state’s broadcasting and radio industries. “I was actually stunned,” Reid said upon learning of the award.
Working on the farm is notoriously tough, with agriculture students generally working on crop farms from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the summer, but the overabundance of rain has graduate student Erin Taylor and others working until sundown — sometimes as late as 10 p.m. — to get crops planted.
Last week marked the start of the MSU Community Language School’s language summer camps for kids. The Community Language School was created in 2008 as a part of MSU’s Center for Language Teaching Advancement.
Thanks to a recent grant from the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship, MSU graduate student Vanessa Hull will be able to continue her research on endangered giant pandas.
The university and surrounding areas continue to prepare for the arrival of Irish rock band U2 on Sunday, university officials said today. The band will play at 7 p.m.
Student train travelers might have a harder time commuting to and from campus as speeds of a branch of track servicing East Lansing slowed last week, even though the train line that runs through East Lansing has seen record ridership this year. Maximum speeds on the section of the Blue Water line from Battle Creek, Mich., to Kalamazoo slowed to 25-60 mph, down from 79 mph previously, said Rudy Husband, a spokesman from Norfolk Southern Corp., the company who owns the section of track. The track includes several West Michigan stops and also is en route to stations in and near Chicago.
Researchers at MSU and the Michigan Biotechnology Institute, or MBI, say they plan to use a $4.3 million grant from the Department of Energy to further their examination of alternative fuel technology. Money from the grant will go primarily to researchers at MBI, a Lansing-based company owned by the university.
When interdisciplinary studies in social science senior Peter Croce first arrived at MSU, he was surprised by the limited number of students using skateboards to navigate campus.