Today we have cell phones the creators of Star Trek could not have imagined. An Internet that puts encyclopedias of information at our finger tips. Nanotechnology. Hybridized crops. Treatments to stop cancer. All things that exist thanks to research at universities.
Where else would leading experts in fields as diverse as engineering, veterinary medicine, agriculture and natural science come together? Who else can follow promising ideas wherever they might lead? How else would research move beyond a focus on developing products for short-term profit to finding solutions to complex, multi-faceted problems?
With more than 2,000 research-active faculty, MSU has a scholarly footprint spanning scores of disciplines and a strong tradition of research excellence and impact, says MSU’s Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Stephen Hsu. As a result, MSU is helping to find and test potential solutions to some of the world’s “grand challenges” such as drug-resistant disease, food security, clean water and clean energy.
Now, through the $300 million research funding goal of the Empower Extraordinary campaign, MSU has the opportunity to expand and strengthen that tradition.
“MSU has a long history of successful-interdisciplinary research,” says Hsu. “It actually undersells its strengths. It tends not to brag about the great things it’s done. Many Spartans believe MSU is a no-nonsense place that values teamwork. It’s a good place to raise a family while making important discoveries in the lab.”
Increasingly, faculty also are finding MSU is a place with seed funding, often through private support, that enables the groundwork to test bold, new ideas. Groundwork that leads to larger public support through federal grants. And, ultimately, to discoveries that could change the world.
To learn more about researchers whose work could the world, read about Robert Abramovitch and Michael Hamm.
To learn about a researcher whose work already did change the world, read about Barnett Rosenberg.
And to see the kind of impact these huge discoveries can make for future research, read about MSU faculty members whose work is being made possible by the funding those discoveries have generated.
For more information on making a gift to MSU’s research mission, contact University Advancement at univdev@msu.edu or by calling (517) 884-1000 or toll-free (800) 232-4MSU.
Author: Lois Furry