MSU

MSU-assisted website allows tracking of invasive species

Emily Wilkins

July 20, 2010

In 2002, the emerald ash borer killed tens of millions of trees in the state of Michigan. Now, a new website created by an MSU professor identifies areas vulnerable to invasive species, such as the emerald ash borer, in an attempt to prevent outbreaks and damage to the environment. The site, metroinvasive.info, contains maps showing “hot” areas for exotic species, information useful to researchers who are interested in the human mediated dispersion of pests.

MSU

MSU center uses methane gas to study waste, energy

Meagan Choi

July 19, 2010

The MSU Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center — completed in April from a private grant — studies optimal ways to convert waste into energy by harvesting naturally occurring methane gas. Using methane — a greenhouse gas — also will reduce the negative effect it would have on the environment if left untreated.

MSU

MSU medical students to research at Kenyan hospital

Alanna Thiede

July 19, 2010

MSU medical students and faculty will be able to study and complete research at Chogoria Hospital in Kenya as part of a new agreement through the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and Institute of International Health, or IIH. The partnership was announced Monday and sets up a program for fourth-year medical students in the College of Osteopathic Medicine to study in Chogoria, Kenya for six weeks as part of an international elective program.

MSU

2nd annual Livestock Expo hits MSU Pavilion

Aseel Machi

July 18, 2010

With dozens of sheep, goats, hogs and cattle, the second annual Michigan Livestock Expo was in full swing this weekend at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education. Featuring exhibitions, sales and contests, the expo will conclude Tuesday with an auction of the award-winning animals from the 8- to 20-year-old exhibitors. The expo is the largest in the state.

MSU

Students living on campus to split cost of Brody water switch

Andrew Krietz

July 18, 2010

MSU students living in residence halls will split the cost of switching the Brody Complex’s water supply to East Lansing’s water system. The switch, which occurred during the spring semester, has doubled the amount MSU typically pays to supply water to campus buildings. MSU’s Hospitality Services and all students who reside on campus will pay for the switch through room and board rates in lieu of students living in Brody’s residence halls picking up the entire cost.

MSU

Agriculture Expo to be held Tues.

Emily Wilkins

July 18, 2010

The 31st annual Michigan Agriculture Expo will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday. Held at the corner of Farm Lane and Mount Hope Road, the event is sponsored by MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, or CANR. The expo will include a variety of exhibits, more than 235 vendors and events such as livestock handling and a toy tractor show.

MSU

MSU Extension to hold parasite class

Andrew Krietz

July 18, 2010

MSU Extension is offering a program to help sheep and goat producers manage the internal parasites of their animals. The workshop, Integrated Parasite Management Program for Sheep and Goat Producers, will be held Saturday in Manchester, Mich.; July 31 in Union City, Mich.; and Sept.

MSU

Girls to Women Conference aims to empower teens

Ashley Brown

July 18, 2010

Although the confidence for women to pursue careers has improved in recent years, they still face the issues of the everyday world. The Girls to Women Conference was started by the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing three years ago, after a junior high student confessed that she was tired of seeing her friends succumb to the pressures of school, the media and bad influences from their peers without a way to work through their issues successfully.

MSU

$1.7M grant awarded to MSU microRNA researcher

Alanna Thiede

July 18, 2010

An MSU researcher will study links between arsenic exposure and lung cancer to determine new treatments using a recently secured $1.7 million grant. The National Institutes of Health awarded Chengfeng Yang, a physiology assistant professor with the College of Veterinary Medicine and MSU’s Center for Integrative Toxicology, a five-year general grant to study the roles of small ribonucleic acids called microRNAs in cell transformation caused by direct exposure to arsenic.

MSU

Local children catch butterflies at Strolling with the Storyteller event

Alanna Thiede

July 14, 2010

Paul Roose lead the group participants through the gardens and shared facts about the surrounding nature mixed with stories as part of the Strolling with the Storyteller event. Each month during the summer, there is a event featuring a different garden where a guide tells educational stories as they walk through the gardens.

MSU

MSU selling cows to reduce costs

Meagan Choi

July 14, 2010

Driven by the absence of future research projects and budgetary pressure, MSU will sell one of its three dairy cow herds from the Upper Peninsula Experiment Station, or UPES, this fall. The UPES — located in Chatham, Mich. — is one of 15 field stations in the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, or MAES, which is restructuring after $400,000 was cut by MSU’s Board of Trustees last month and state appropriations still are uncertain.

MSU

Student garden between Kedzie halls grows unrestricted

Aseel Machi

July 14, 2010

Plant growth in a student-maintained garden in the middle of North and South Kedzie halls has grown uncontrolled since the students who started the garden have gone home for the summer. Signs have been broken, garbage has not been removed and the plant life has grown without maintenance.

MSU

MSU sustainability program given 'outstanding' approval

Ashley Brown

July 12, 2010

Planting trees across the world, MSU’s Carbon2Markets, or C2M, program has gained praise from the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research for attempting to raise the standard of living in developing countries, while slowing down global warming. C2M was unanimously deemed “outstanding” by the organization’s board in recognition of the program’s five years of efforts in sustainability and third-world economics.

MSU

MSU professor finds sustainability lacks ethics

Anthony Odoardi

July 12, 2010

Ethical issues are being neglected when researching and teaching sustainability, according to a research paper co-authored by an MSU professor, published in this month’s journal, “Bioscience” and entitled “Sustainability: Virtuous or Vulgar?” Michael Nelson, an MSU associate professor of environmental ethics and John Vucetich, an assistant professor of wildlife biology at Michigan Technological University, collaborated to create the argument and asked what the authors call a vitally important question regarding ethics in sustainability.

MSU

MSU Community Music School hosts rock camp

Aseel Machi

July 12, 2010

Banging a variety of drums and singing a range of notes, participants at the MSU Community Music School’s, or CMS, Rock Camp rocked out Monday afternoon at the beginning of the week-long camp that will conclude with performances at Common Ground Music Festival. The camp features workshops for musically experienced participants ages 12-18, where participants learn how to perform in front of groups, how to form a band, how to market and promote a band and how to work together to form a final project.

MSU

Whooping cough exposure reported during MSU event

Emily Wilkins

July 11, 2010

An undiagnosed case of pertussis, or whooping cough, might have been exposed to the 900 people who attended Grandparents University at MSU from June 29 to July 1. The Michigan Department of Community Health, or MDCH, identified 20 individuals Friday who attended the event who are at a high risk for contracting pertussis.

MSU

4-H Discovery Camp introduces teens to green careers

Meagan Choi

July 11, 2010

Nine students attended the first Michigan 4-H Discovery Camp last week, which offered Michigan students ages 15-19 opportunities to learn about bioenergy and green solutions. At the camp, students visited MSU faculty member’s labs and took interactive field trips across the state while experiencing dorm living in Shaw Hall.

MSU

MSU professor named national Cherry Industry Person of the Year

Meagan Choi

July 8, 2010

MSU horticulture professor and researcher Amy Iezzoni was honored as the 2010 Cherry Industry Person of the Year by the Cherry Marketing Institute on Wednesday at MSU’s Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station in Traverse City. Iezzoni was chosen for the award because of her commitment to cherry growers through her research.

MSU

MSU analysis could be helpful in rape cases

Andrew Krietz

July 7, 2010

An MSU-assisted analysis of 10,500 sexual assault evidence kits from the city of Detroit might be used to prosecute hundreds of alleged rapists if results prove conclusive to investigators. The MSU Center for Statistical Training and Consulting, or CSTAT, the Michigan State Police, the Detroit Police Department and others are coordinating the effort to process the kits in an attempt to understand how a rape happened and who committed it. A $600,000 allocation by the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board was given to the various agencies to begin the study to assist the defunct Detroit Police Crime Laboratory, said John Collins, the forensic science division director for the Michigan State Police.

MSU

MSU finds link in undernutrition, brain health

Anthony Odoardi

July 7, 2010

An MSU-led study has found undernutrition and a poor early life environment can lead to cognitive disabilities later in life. Zhenmei Zhang, an MSU assistant professor of sociology, started the project with two other professors in 2007 and found males and females who grew up undernourished were more likely to develop mental deficiencies, such as memory loss, when they are older.