President's Report 2011

Message From the President

Innovation lives at the intersection of inspired intellect and day-in-day-out determined effort, and it shares that address with Michigan State University.

From its beginning as the nation’s pioneer land-grant college, Michigan State has been at the nexus of knowing and doing—playing a pivotal role in the democratization of higher education that prepared the engineers, educators, farmers, and scientists who would go on to help build the country.

We knew then, and we know now, that there is no paradox in brilliance and hard work. Instead, they combine to create something distinctive—the sweet spot where Spartan researchers, faculty, and students discover, create, collaborate, contribute, nurture, and inspire as they work together and with others to find solutions to the big problems of our time.

I am pleased to share with you some of the work that was accomplished at MSU in 2011 and that continues every day for the common good.

Lou Anna K. Simon, PhD
President

Revving an Automotive Revolution.

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In the race to develop greener, more efficient, and less expensive automobiles, a new wave disk engine developed by an MSU engineer could be a game changer—one that has captured the interest of the scientific community and the U.S. secretary of energy.

Norbert Müller, associate professor of mechanical engineering, has developed a concept for a wave disk engine that combines shock wave compression with internal combustion and turbine propulsion and eliminates many of the components of a typical internal combustion engine, significantly reducing maintenance costs and frictional losses and increasing efficiency.

“Typically, people try to avoid shock waves in turbomachinery design,” says Müller. “We turn this challenge into an opportunity.”

With virtually no friction between solids and only one moving part, the wave disk engine pulls in a combustible mixture that is trapped in its channel. When the channel outlet closes, a shock wave is generated, which compresses the fuel trapped inside, raising the pressure and temperature, and ignition occurs. Ignition leads to combustion, propelling the disk, which is connected to a drive shaft. Instead of turning the wheels of the automobile, the drive shaft would power a generator, which would charge the vehicle’s battery.

With the potential to be a low-cost, lightweight, more fuel-efficient alternative to internal combustion and turbine engines, Müller’s design is gaining high-profile attention. He participated in the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., in 2010 and 2011 and presented a prototype of his engine at the 2011 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit Technology Showcase. The engine also has promising applications beyond automobiles, including the potential to serve as a backup power source in households, aircraft, and disaster relief situations.

Müller credits the success of the wave disk engine in large part to the contributions of the industrious and innovative team of researchers working closely with him.

“All the students are excited to work on this project because it’s truly a totally new engine concept,” he says.

The Beets Go On.

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When Michigan State University experts partnered with Michigan Sugar Company—a grower-owned cooperative—to revive Michigan’s declining sugar beet industry, the result was sweet success. Today, Michigan is the nation’s fourth-leading producer of sugar beets.

Brought to the United States from Europe, sugar beets—grown specifically for their sugar content, sucrose, which is chemically identical to cane sugar—have been grown in Michigan for more than 100 years. But yields of Michigan beets began to decline in the early 1990s. By the mid-’90s, yields had fallen to an unprofitable level of production.

“People from the sugar industry approached us to help them study the problem and come up with solutions,” says Steve Poindexter, senior educator with MSU Extension and MSU AgBioResearch, who likens the appearance of the sugar beet to a white carrot on steroids. “If production and profitability weren’t increased, the alternative was losing the industry completely.”

As a result, the Sugar Beet Advancement Program was born. MSU spearheaded the partnership with Michigan Sugar Company, which owns the brands Pioneer Sugar and Big Chief Sugar. MSU scientists, industry representatives, and sugar beet farmers worked side by side to reinvigorate production and yield.

Most of the nation’s sugar is produced domestically, and Michigan produces one billion pounds of sugar annually. The state is home to four sugar factories—all owned by growers—and supports more than 1,000 farmers located mostly in the Thumb region.

Researchers from MSU Extension and AgBioResearch, Michigan Sugar Company, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture determined the scope of the problem—or, more accurately, problems that included diseases, parasites, poor soil conditions, and unfavorable weather patterns.

One of the first orders of business was to address planting.

“About 65 percent of seeds planted by farmers come out of the ground in a good year,” says Tom Wenzel, research assistant with MSU Extension. “Prior to seed and tillage advancements in the last 15 years, emergence of less than 30 percent was a common problem.”

The team from MSU worked on-site with farmers to change tillage practices and planting times, as well as to switch to pregerminated seeds. Within a couple of years, farmers gained a few tons of beets per acre. With additional benefits from advances in disease and pest control, by 2008, farmers yielded 29 tons per acre, nearly double the yield harvested at the lowest point in the previous decade.

Today, Michigan’s sugar beet industry has a net economic impact of $550 million annually, giving the state an indirect economic boost of $1 billion.

Poindexter points out that without the cooperation and collaboration involving MSU, Michigan Sugar Company, and farmers, the industry wouldn’t be where it is today and, perhaps, wouldn’t exist.

“It’s one thing to do research,” says Poindexter. “But MSU is uniquely positioned to educate growers. The majority of our research happens with farmers right in their fields. They see what we’re doing as it happens and, therefore, they learn to trust the research. Our credibility level is extremely high with them.”

Zapping Nuclear Waste.

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The successful cleanup of nuclear waste sounds like a job for a superhero. Now a team of Michigan State University researchers has discovered how some microbes with a taste for uranium are able to play that powerful role.

Uranium, which is toxic even at low levels, is highly radioactive after it is enriched to produce nuclear fuels and spreads quickly in the environment because it is soluble in water.

While the uranium-immobilizing powers of superhero microbes known as Geobacter have long been known, MSU microbiologist Gemma Reguera and her research team proved for the first time that the microbes’ nanowires—tiny electrically charged hair-like filaments—are primarily responsible for the bacteria’s ability to reduce uranium.

“These nanowires actually shield the cell from the toxicity, creating a kind of armor so the cell survives and grows and is happy,” says Reguera, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics. “The bacterial hairs are fully charged with electricity, just like a live electrical wire, and zap the uranium. What happens next is simple chemistry. Soluble, dangerous uranium is immobilized onto the wires as a mineral. This prevents its spread and protects us from exposure.”

Armed with this knowledge, the MSU researchers are contributing to the development of optimized bioremediation schemes in field tests in which a Geobacter army is successfully deployed or stimulated to clean up nuclear waste. For example, when acetate—Geobacter’s preferred food source—was injected into the contaminated groundwater at a uranium mill site in Rifle, Colorado, it stimulated the growth of the Geobacter community already in the soil, which, in turn, worked to remove the uranium.

While the bacteria as they occur naturally are not capable of cleaning up nuclear disasters like the one at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, the good news is that the MSU researchers were able to manipulate the natural process to engineer bacteria with more wires to zap more uranium.

“If we have these technologies, we can do containment and then rapid treatment to remove the contaminant and reduce its threat,” says Reguera.

The team’s research could lead to the development of microbial fuel cells and, ultimately, to the mass production of devices that could efficiently clean up extremely toxic environments— helping ensure a safer and healthier future for all.

Danger in Disguise.

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Dubbed “the crime of the 21st century” by the FBI, counterfeiting of consumer goods is far from a victimless crime, costing jobs and
even lives.

Now Michigan State University, home to the nation’s first comprehensive anticounterfeiting research and training program, has introduced a graduate certificate program that provides industry and law enforcement officials with the latest strategies and tools to stop criminals from pulling the wool over consumers’ eyes.

“Virtually any kind of consumer good can be counterfeited, from pharmaceuticals to electronics to auto parts to food—you name it,”
says Jeremy Wilson, associate professor of criminal justice and
the program director for MSU’s Anti-Counterfeiting and Product
Protection Program.

“What makes product counterfeiting so difficult is the fact that it has multidimensional effects,” says Wilson. “It affects public safety, public health, and the economy through loss of jobs, and it stunts innovation within companies. There are also ties to organized crime and terrorism. The challenge is that nobody really knows how big it is.”

Counterfeit goods account for the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in global trade every year. And with the rise in online retail commerce, the problem only gets bigger as counterfeiters find new targets and avoid prosecution.

“People engage in this because it’s easy, the profits are large, and the punishment is minimal,” says Wilson. “Globalization and the Internet create an expanded opportunity.”

Wilson points out that many companies have brand protection units and are looking for education and training opportunities for professionals within their organizations to better understand the complexity of counterfeiting, the legal environment, and technologies that can be used to address the issues.

“Our program was developed to serve as the evidence-based voice in anticounterfeit strategy,” says Wilson. “The goal is to think about the nature of the crime, understand how it’s happening on an empirical basis, and try to come up with data-driven lessons on how to address it.”

Deadly Disease Detection.

THERE’S A MOBILE DEVICE—AND AN APP—FOR THAT.

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Millions around the world suffer from potentially life-threatening diseases that go undiagnosed. Barriers to diagnosis—including lack of insurance or lack of transportation to medical facilities—can cost lives. But there is hope, thanks to a Michigan State University engineer and a team of student researchers who developed a mobile diagnostic device capable of detecting some of the world’s most deadly diseases at the touch of a button.

Syed Hashsham, professor of civil and environmental engineering, developed the Gene-Z device, which is capable of diagnosing a range of diseases—from cancers to HIV/AIDS to tuberculosis. Compatible with the iPod Touch and Android-based tablets, the handheld tool analyzes microRNA and other genetic markers found in human blood and reports the results via a custom application.

“The Gene-Z device can do the DNA-based testing at the point of care with very limited resources, whether it’s in the field or at the bedside—anywhere where people aren’t able to access a centralized lab,” says Hashsham.

The accuracy of diagnosis and cost-effectiveness of the device, which weighs less than two pounds, could change the landscape for how disease is detected and treated in under-resourced countries where diseases like cancer pose a growing threat and illnesses that previously had been eradicated are making a comeback.

“Wireless and mobile health diagnostics is a growing area, and many people are working on it,” says Hashsham. “Our unique strength is the high-end genomics we can perform.”

The device would not have been possible—at least not in the same development timeframe—if it weren’t for a team of talented and tenacious MSU graduate and undergraduate student researchers who built the prototype from scratch.

Now the Gene-Z device is being manufactured on a small scale by Hashsham’s spin-off company, Simple DX World—DX stands for diagnostics—and will go through rigorous testing to prove itself a viable option for the medical community. Hashsham also is partnering with MSU’s Institute of International Health to establish connections with physicians around the globe who will help validate the device in the field.

“This is a small device with enormous potential to affect how developing countries deliver health care,” says Hashsham.

Detecting Explosives With Laser Focus.

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A Michigan State University research team is working to make combat zones—and the world—safer with the development of a sophisticated laser that could scan large areas to detect improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

Roadside bombs account for about 60 percent of deaths of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their detection is extremely challenging because the environment introduces a large number of chemical compounds that mask the select few molecules needed to identify an explosive device. And because they can be found in populated areas, the methods to detect these weapons must be nondestructive.

“Detecting explosives in bulk with a laser is very simple,” says Marcos Dantus, MSU professor of chemistry, who leads the research that is funded in part by the Department of Homeland Security. “However, when you have something packaged or hidden underground, the amount of explosive that would be accessible to a method of detection—a bomb-sniffing dog or a laser trying to detect particles—is extremely small. The good news is it’s not zero.”

With output comparable to a presentation laser pointer, the laser that Dantus and his team have developed is capable of detecting molecules found in IEDs and sensitive enough to distinguish trace amounts of explosives from vast arrays of similar compounds that can be found in urban environments.

The high-sensitivity laser is able to identify explosive devices by sending short pulses that stimulate vibrations in molecules and long pulses that “hear” and identify each molecule’s “chords”—similar to identifying guitar chords being played. The chords include different frequencies that uniquely identify every molecule, much like a fingerprint. The laser can work in tandem with cameras to allow users to scan questionable areas from a safe distance.

In 2003, Dantus launched the spin-off company BioPhotonic Solutions to commercialize technology from the research group. He credits the range of experience and ages of his research team—which includes research specialists, undergraduates, graduate student and postdoctoral students, and several high school students—for bringing additional creativity and speed of development to the project.

One of the team’s graduate students, Marshall Bremer, suggested a significant change to the optical design of the laser, which increased its sensitivity and gave the project an important push forward. Next, the team will test the laser’s capabilities under more realistic conditions and work to make the device more portable—all the while keeping in mind the ultimate goal.

“Being able to detect very small quantities of explosives will make us all more secure when we travel and will help protect armed forces whether they are engaged in combat or removing mines on a peace mission,” says Dantus.

This illustration depicts a potential application of a laser developed by an MSU research team as a means of detecting improvised explosive devices.

Nurses Put Girls on a Path to Fitness and a Better Future

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It’s a problem too important to ignore: less than 4 percent of the nation’s middle school-aged girls meet physical activity recommendations. And the problem disproportionately affects those in socioeconomically challenged urban settings. In an effort to reverse this situation, Michigan State University nursing researchers are using a federal grant to design a school-based physical activity program that addresses the physical and personal barriers keeping the nation’s young girls from getting the exercise they need to be healthy and to succeed.

“This is a critical age for intervention,” says Lorraine Robbins, associate professor of nursing, who’s leading the project called Girls Only Activity for Life. “The older girls get, the less moderate and vigorous activity they take part in, which leads to further weight gain and puts them at greater risk for chronic illness.”

According to federal estimates, 3.2 million middle school-aged girls are overweight or obese. Another dose of reality: children ages 8 to 18 spend an average of 7.5 hours a day—more time than they spend in school—in front of a screen, whether it’s television, computers, video games, or cell phones, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

MSU’s $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health expands on a successful pilot program in Lansing public schools designed by researchers in the College of Nursing and Department of Kinesiology. The study will be conducted in 24 schools in Michigan—12 intervention schools and 12 control schools—over three years.

Robbins and her team will implement a 17-week after-school physical activity program with a companion website designed to keep participants motivated. The program seeks to remove commonly reported barriers to physical activity, including lack of transportation and safe, supervised playgrounds, as well as personal insecurities about body image.

To increase the odds of participants adopting long-term exercise habits, the researchers are recruiting school nurses to conduct face-to-face counseling sessions with participants after they complete an online survey that gauges their attitudes toward physical activity. To supplement the time spent directly with a school nurse, each participant chooses an online coach—an animated avatar—that delivers motivational messages via a companion website during the program. The tailored feedback aims to help the girls overcome self-consciousness and body image issues and to increase their motivation for physical activity.

“We want the girls to develop a rapport with the school nurse,” says Robbins. “If they have a direct connection to a health care professional, they can go to that person with other issues as well that may be getting in the way.”

In addition to seeing positive changes in key measurements that include body mass index and sustained physical activity levels in participants, the researchers’ goal is to create a model for an evidence-based program that can be adopted by schools nationwide.

Collaboration Takes Center Stage

Eyewitness to Evolution

In the vast expanses of the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, Africa, MSU zoologist Kay Holekamp—one of the world’s leading experts on spotted hyenas—and her team of student researchers study the behavior of hyenas. Roaming the plains of the reserve, the crew seeks to answer fundamental questions about disease ecology, evolution, behavior, and conservation. The team’s research also contributes to maintaining ecosystem health in this hotspot of biodiversity.

Richard Lenski, Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbial Ecology, has found that in the evolutionary world, it’s sometimes better to be an adaptable tortoise than a fit hare. Lenski and his colleagues studied generations of bacteria and found that over time less-fit organisms often overtook fitter counterparts that had a short-term advantage.

As Lenski and his colleagues seek to understand the basic processes important to microorganisms as they evolve, their work informs other researchers who are trying to understand how evolutionary processes, which occur in everything from microbes to software applications, can affect other fields, such as public health, engineering, and biology.

In his campus laboratory, Lenski has conducted a 24-year experiment growing 54,000 generations of E. coli bacteria. Lenski and his colleagues preserve samples of bacteria every 500 generations—every couple of months—which they keep as a fossil record that shows which mutations occur first. Those mutations are what determine the eventual winners and losers.

“It’s exciting partly because theoretical biologists have long talked about these kinds of tensions,” says Lenski. “Rarely can one step back and do the experiment to demonstrate repeatedly and statistically that this difference between short- and long-term outlooks really made all the difference. In terms of definitive experiments of this type, ours was the first.”

But what if the eventual winners just got lucky?

“Evolution is a mixture of ability and luck,” says Lenski. “Just like in poker, if you’re an amateur playing against a professional, you might win one hand, but that doesn’t mean you’re more skillful than the world champion.

“But we were able to restart evolution 40 times, like playing 40 hands of poker, with just the eventual winners or losers and showed that the eventual winners really did have a long-term advantage,” says Lenski. “They were systematically better players over the long term even though they were weaker in terms of competing over the short term.”

“Each of us needs to evolve and become eventual winners and not eventual losers in our scholarship,” says Lenski.

What are the origins of life on Earth? A Michigan State University faculty member has taken an artistic approach to answering that question with an experimental exhibit that is traveling the world.

Adam Brown, associate professor of electronic art and intermedia and BEACON’s first artist in residence, has recreated the famous Miller-Urey experiment of 1952 that recreates what are thought to be the conditions of Earth’s atmosphere when life began. By starting with a mixture of hydrogen, ammonia, and methane in a glass flask that is then zapped with a heart-stopping electrical charge that simulates a bolt of lightning, Brown’s work is part creation experiment and part creative expression.

Brown’s goal isn’t to teach a science lesson but rather to encourage the public to question when and how life began.

“This is a good learning opportunity,” says Brown, who studies the intersection of media forms, which is the focus of MSU’s new electronic art and intermedia concentration in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design. “We live in such a science- and engineering-dominated culture. We can engineer cells. We’re almost coding life itself. But what are the ethical issues that arise from that? The arts are great at bringing ideas to the public that reflect the mirror back at them.”

As part of this open-source experiment, Brown encourages fellow artists and scientists from around the world to contribute their ideas for future experiments. The exhibit was featured at the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria—an annual gathering of artists, scientists, and researchers from around the globe—that draws more than 100,000 visitors.

“Art is supposed to challenge us,” says Brown. “It’s that fun house mirror that reflects something new back at us, like a mass shrink of the world that shows us things about ourselves we haven’t seen before.”

Student Stories Introduction

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At Michigan State University, the vast number of opportunities for students is matched only by the immensity of the number of chances to make a difference.

In addition to studying abroad, taking leadership roles, and participating in internships, undergraduate and graduate students volunteer locally and globally and often work side by side with faculty members on research that helps provide solutions to the big problems of our time.

One way Spartan students are changing the world for the better is through a scholarship program for members of the MSU Honors College. The program selects the most promising projects submitted by students who seek to make a difference in places around the world that are in need of the most vital life necessities, including clean water, food, shelter, and medical care.

The three MSU Honors College students featured here each received a Schoenl Family Undergraduate Grant for Dire Needs Overseas. Their work is making a lasting impact on individuals in faraway communities, while providing the students with significant leadership experience and the desire to do even more.

Four Walls-and a Healthier Future-in Cambodia

Construction of a new school and health center in the Cambodian village of Ba Phnom is nearly complete and the facility is already hosting humanitarian missions, thanks in large part to the efforts of Spartan Gregory Jones. The senior, who is studying nutrition science, helped raise nearly $14,000 for the project as well as $1,500 for a clean-water pump.

The new health care facility welcomed its first mission in summer 2011 when 24 dentists from the United States traveled to the village to provide services to community members. According to Jones, who traveled to Ba Phnom in spring 2011 to bring his project to life, more humanitarian organizations, traveling physicians, and dentists plan to visit. This is good news in a place where many children don’t attend school and chronic disease abounds. The new facility will offer health services and will educate residents on methods for preventing common illnesses.

Harvesting Sunshine in Peru

The Peruvian village of Huamachuco likely isn’t on the radar of many college students, but Kathryn Bonnen, a master’s student studying computer science, is on a first-name basis with many of the local residents. Bonnen traveled there and to surrounding villages in the northern Andes where she was assisted by a team of MSU faculty and students and local residents who have an ongoing relationship with the community of Huamachuco to install six water heaters at schools and a busy health center as well as a solar food dryer at a school garden.

This simple, but effective, equipment installed by Bonnen and her team members is having far-reaching effects on villagers, particularly women. The food dryer now makes it possible to preserve all the food that is harvested, where previously a significant percentage of the annual crop was lost to spoilage. Installed in the school garden, the dryer is run by women in the village. This group created a business plan to sell dried fruit and to build additional food dryers—ultimately providing a path out of poverty.

Empowering a Community in India With Clean Water

In some parts of India, a social caste system still exists, sometimes segregating entire villages. One of the side effects of the system is the restriction of access to clean drinking water. In the community of Bedani, villagers often had to travel a mile or more to the nearest river for water.

Their plight inspired Priyanka Pandey to create a plan to install five water pumps throughout the village so every family home is within 20 feet of a source for clean, fresh water. Pandey, who studied genetics and human biology as an undergraduate and is currently a graduate student studying physiology, traveled to India to help install the pumps. She notes that empowering the residents of Bedani with water independence is the first step toward addressing more complex health and social issues while eliminating feelings of powerlessness. Pandey also launched the Bedani Foundation to ensure that the community continues to develop and thrive.