Dr. John A. Vucetich
“Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale: An Overview of 50 years of Research”

April 8, 2008
The wolves and moose of Isle Royale, an island in Lake Superior, have been studied continuously and intensively since 1959. It is the longest study of such intensity on any predator-prey system in the world. The system is also importantly unique because on Isle Royale: humans do not exploit wolves or moose on Isle Royale, wolves are the only predator of moose, and moose comprise an overwhelming majority of wolf prey.

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Student earns prestigious Goldwater Scholarship

April 3, 2008
Catherine Nezich of Marquette, MSU’s 2008 Goldwater Scholar, doesn’t believe that what she learns at MSU stays at MSU.

“As a woman in science, I know I could not have had the same kinds of educational experiences 50 years ago,” Nezich said. “Receiving this scholarship means if I keep working hard and taking advantage of opportunities that come my way, I can still be that small-town girl holding her own in the world of science and research.

“My 21st century education translates to other aspects of my life, so it affects more than just me. It also affects the people with whom I interact.”

Read the entire news release

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MSU historian takes reader behind the scenes of East Germany’s Stasi

April 1, 2008
In its day, the East German secret police, now known as the “Stasi,” was one of the most feared spy agencies in the world. But despite its reputation and seemingly unlimited access to James Bond-like technology, the best national security system couldn’t help an ailing communist regime, according to an MSU historian.

In her new book, “Seduced by Secrets,” MSU’s internationally recognized historian and Lyman Briggs associate professor Kristie Macrakis debunks the myths surrounding the East German Ministry for State Security, while offering insights into the workings of all spy agencies.

“Most people have a script in their head about what the Stasi was,” said Macrakis, who is currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University. “They want to tell a different story than the one I’m trying to tell.”

Read the entire news release

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Third Thursdays for Faculty

March 20, 2008
President Lou Anna K. Simon and Provost Kim A. Wilcox invite MSU tenure-system, fixed-term faculty, Health Programs and Law faculty, and librarians to a series of informal social gatherings collectively called Third Thursdays for Faculty.

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Fifteen MSU students nominated for Goldwater, Truman, Udall and Carnegie Awards

February 29, 2008
Read the entire news release

East Lansing, February 29, 2008 – Based on academic excellence and other accomplishments, fifteen MSU Honors College students have been nominated by faculty for Goldwater, Truman, Udall and Carnegie scholarships and fellowships.

“It is indeed an honor to be nominated for any one of these awards,” said Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore, dean of the Honors College. “In the process of preparing for these intensely competitive national fellowships, talented individuals learn how to bring together components of their MSU education including undergraduate research, community service, study abroad and outreach. Whether they are successful on the national level or not, they attend graduate school and go on to illustrious careers. The nomination process offers a look at what they and their fellow students will achieve in the future.”

Andrew Keller, Kaveri Korgavkar, Catherine Nezich, and Donald Vanderlaan are competing for the Goldwater Scholarship; Stephanie Dawes, Yvette Efevbera, Jennifer Flood, and Theodore Madsen are competing for the Truman Scholarship; Marci Baranski, Martha McCoy, Autumn Mitchell, Corrine Thomas, and Aimee Wilson are competing for the Udall Scholarship; and Matthew Hasho and Lindsay Robillard are competing for a Carnegie Endowment Junior Fellowship.

Kaveri Korgavkar is a junior Honors College member with dual majors of Chemistry in the College of Natural Science and Comparative Cultures and Politics in James Madison College. An Alumni Distinguished Scholarship Semi-Finalist, Honors College Cole Excellence Scholar, and College of Natural Science Faculty/Staff Fund Scholar, Korgavkar also received a study abroad scholarship for her studies in India this past summer. She is a Lyman Briggs College calculus teaching assistant and a Professorial Assistant with Dr. Chris Womack in Kinesiology and Dr. Babak Borhan in Chemistry.

Korgavkar plans a PhD in Biochemistry or Medicinal Chemistry, studying drug function in humans.

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Scientific Evidence Supporting Evolution Continues To Grow; Nonscientific Approaches Do Not Belong In Science Classrooms

January 3, 2008
The National Academies

WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) today released SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM, a book designed to give the public a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the current scientific understanding of evolution and its importance in the science classroom. Recent advances in science and medicine, along with an abundance of observations and experiments over the past 150 years, have reinforced evolution's role as the central organizing principle of modern biology, said the committee that wrote the book.

"SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM provides the public with coherent explanations and concrete examples of the science of evolution," said NAS President Ralph Cicerone. "The study of evolution remains one of the most active, robust, and useful fields in science."

"Understanding evolution is essential to identifying and treating disease," said Harvey Fineberg, president of IOM. "For example, the SARS virus evolved from an ancestor virus that was discovered by DNA sequencing. Learning about SARS' genetic similarities and mutations has helped scientists understand how the virus evolved. This kind of knowledge can help us anticipate and contain infections that emerge in the future."

LBC professor Dr. Robert Pennock was a member of the NAS committee that authored this book.


Read the entire article
Copies of SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM are available here.

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War of the species

Nov. 15, 2007
Detroit Free Press

Weevils, beetles, wasps and fungi are the new heroes in a David-and-Goliath battle. Scientists are unleashing them to attack invasive species that kill trees and dominate native plants, robbing wildlife of food and habitat. ... The weevils are native to the United States and Canada, but lakes usually have too few to damage milfoil. It takes huge numbers, raised in a lab, to do the trick. Because weevils aren't cheap, their use can divide lakefront homeowners who often pay for the controls. Kendra Cheruvelil, Michigan State University freshwater ecologist, hopes to determine scientifically, not just anecdotally, whether they're working.

Dr. Pennock to appear on NOVA special

November 6, 2007

Lyman Briggs professor Robert T. Pennock served as an expert witness in the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board trial which ruled that teaching Intelligent Design in public school is unconstitutional. This historic case will be the subject of a special 2-hour episode of the PBS science show NOVA titled "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial". Dr. Pennock was called to testify especially as a philosopher and historian of science about the nature of science and the philosophical basis of scientific methodology. Having followed the ID movement and criticized its arguments in detail for over 15 years, he explained why ID, like previous forms of creationism, does not qualify as science. He was interviewed about these issues for NOVA, some excerpts of which are presented on the Judgement Day web page about Defining Science. In the trial he also testified about his scientific research that uses evolving computer organisms to test evolutionary hypotheses.

The NOVA episode will air on PBS stations on Tuesday, November 13th at 8 pm. Dr. Pennock was also interviewed for a local PBS program about the impact of the Kitzmiller case for science education in Michigan that will air on WKAR-TV immediately following the NOVA show.

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Five MSU Students Nominated for Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell, Churchill Awards

East Lansing, October 15, 2007

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- Based on academic accomplishments and excellence, five Michigan State University Honors College seniors have been nominated by faculty for Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell or Churchill scholarships.

"The talented students nominated are exemplars of the best and the brightest at Michigan State University," said Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore, dean of the Honors College. "The nomination process offers an encouraging glimpse of what they and their fellow students will achieve in the future. We applaud them for their contributions and efforts."

Ramy Goueli and Monica Mukerjee are competing for Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, Zachary Beamer and Katherine Leitch are competing for Marshall and Churchill Scholarships and Nicholas Micinski is competing for a Mitchell Scholarship.

     Zachary Beamer is a senior Honors College member and dual major in mathematics at Lyman Briggs College and philosophy in the College of Arts and Letters. Beamer's accomplishments range from receiving the Cole Excellence Scholarship to serving as an undergraduate teaching assistant in the MSU Mathematics Department. He has studied tent maps and cantor-like fractals under the direction of Dr. Aklilu Zeleke and has presented his research at the national and regional mathematics meetings. He also plays bass guitar and sings in a jazz and rock band.

If chosen as a Marshall or Churchill Scholar, Beamer will study Part III of the Mathematics Tripos and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

     Ramy Goueli is a senior Honors College member and dual major in biochemistry at Lyman Briggs College and sociology in the College of Social Science. Goueli's accomplishments while at MSU span from founding the Society of Love and Care in Cairo, Egypt to serving as president of Tower Guard. A Mowbray Scholar, Medical Scholar, and Distinguished Achievement Scholar at MSU, Goueli has served as a campaign intern and spent two summers in Cairo, Egypt researching with Dr. El Desouki E Fouda. Goueli studies signal transduction, RNA, and the Hepatitis C virus with mentorship from Dr. Kathleen Gallo.

If chosen to study at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, Goueli will study global health. And as a Marshall Scholar, he will enroll at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine studying health policy, planning and financing.

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Evolution-Once More, with Feeling

October 10, 2007

American Scientist (commentary)
By: Robert T. Pennock

Most people would not expect a scientist to speak of love, except perhaps in terms of endorphins or pheromones. And who would want to hear love reduced to that? Is the heart but a pump and not the seat of the soul? Though science may clock the beats of a racing pulse, such a sterile accounting of the muscle in our breast is cold and, well, bloodless. Isn't such a heartless picture of the world always what science leaves us with after it has explained (or explained away) some previously mysterious miracle of nature? More...

Robert T. Pennock is a professor in the Lyman Briggs College, the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is the author of Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism (The MIT Press, 1999). In 2005 he testified as an expert witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board case regarding the teaching of intelligent-design creationism in public schools.

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Rivals race on Red Cedar   (Photos from the event)

September 30, 2007

It wasn't nearly as competitive as the Harvard-Yale Regatta, but the Lyman Briggs School vs. James Madison College canoe race on the Red Cedar River Sunday had rivalry implications all the same.

"The Briggs versus Madison rivalry has been going on forever," said Jim Smith, Lyman Briggs associate biology professor.

The first heat kicked off just after 1 p.m., with canoes racing from the Farm Lane bridge to the Bogue Street bridge and back.

Smith, paired with his Lyman Briggs colleague John Waller, associate professor of history, won his heat by several canoe lengths to open the day. This started a positive trend for the college that eventually ended in a 19-9 win for Lyman Briggs.

The race between the two residential learning programs began in the 1970s, becoming an annual fall tradition until 1999, when the event was canceled because of the river's water quality, Smith said.

Kent Workman, assistant director of student affairs for Lyman Briggs, said the two programs switched to an Olympic showdown event when they couldn't do the canoe race anymore - an event they will continue this spring.

Both Workman and Smith noted the programs wanted to restart the event two years ago, when the water levels of the river improved, but were rained out.

"We've wanted to bring it back for some time," Smith said.

James Madison sophomores Ashley Porter and Daryl Lederle said initially they were going to take it easy - until the day of the race. Though their team didn't come out on top, they won their heat by a wide margin.

Lederle said it's hard not to compete to win when an opportunity presents itself.

"We're both competitive," she said. "If there's ever a race or something, it's just like, push, push, push."

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Nice work "Into the Streets" and Lyman Briggs students!

September 24, 2007

An army of volunteers clad in orange vests pitched in Saturday morning to give West Saginaw Street between Cawood and Stanley streets a face lift. They edged sidewalks, weeded flower beds and picked up trash and debris.

Tapreeshah Ethridge of Lansing, a 16-year-old Everett High School junior, cleaned up a patch of grass in front of the Irish Pub. She volunteered through the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing.

"It's community service, so we came out to help," she said. Other volunteers included students involved in MSU's Lyman Briggs College and its Into the Streets program, which sends students into the community on volunteer projects. The cleanup, sponsored by the city's NorthWest Initiative, is the first phase of an ongoing project, said Jessica Yorko, one of Saturday's event coordinators.

"Our ultimate, ultimate goal is to create a vibrant commercial heart for the West Side community along Saginaw," she said.

"In the meantime, we'll be doing all we can to make commercial and residential properties look just as spiffy as we can."

On Oct. 27, volunteers will return to the area paint, repair and landscape about 30 properties in the area, Yorko said.

Contact Kathleen Lavey at 377-1251 or klavey@lsj.com.

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MSU board approves naming of Lyman Briggs College

June 15, 2007

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University's Lyman Briggs School of Science is now the Lyman Briggs College.

With the name change, approved by the MSU Board of Trustees at today's meeting, Lyman Briggs becomes MSU's 17th college. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Lyman Briggs is a residential, undergraduate academic unit devoted to studying natural sciences in their historical, philosophical, literary and social contexts. The entire unit, including student residences, teaching laboratories and faculty offices, is housed in Holmes Hall.

"Given the renewed university emphasis on residential academic communities, including the recent founding of a new Residential College in Arts and Humanities, we felt it was time to restore Lyman Briggs to college status," said Lyman Briggs Dean Elizabeth Simmons. "This is an exciting time for Lyman Briggs. We appreciate the support of the provost, the Lyman Briggs alumni and the entire MSU academic community."

Founded as a college in 1967, Lyman Briggs' status was changed to that of school in 1981 due to university-wide financial pressures. At that time it also became a unit within MSU's College of Natural Science.

"Restoring Lyman Briggs to college status allows the university to advance residential colleges in the natural sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities and establishes a more uniform administrative structure and process across the three colleges," said MSU Provost Kim Wilcox. "It also advances the strategic imperatives of Boldness by Design, particularly those related to the student experience, diversity and stewardship."

Simmons said one of the major advantages of re-attaining college status will be an increase in opportunities to work more closely with other MSU colleges.

"As a college, Lyman Briggs will be better able to partner with its peers in recruiting talented students from across the country, in fostering more interdisciplinary curricula and programs and in supporting faculty professional development," she said.

Since 2004, Lyman Briggs has been increasing its enrollment, which now stands at approximately 1,750, to offer more students the opportunity to benefit from its writing-intensive interactive curriculum, inquiry-based labs and individualized faculty mentoring.

"As part of our expansion, the university has helped Lyman Briggs renovate and extend its teaching laboratories and add office space," Simmons said. "Generous grants from the Gerstacker and Strosacker foundations helped fund $1.75 million of the biology and chemistry lab renovation costs."

Since its founding, Lyman Briggs has graduated a Marshall Scholar, a Truman Scholar, five Goldwater Scholars, two Udall Scholars, one Phi Kappa Phi and a recipient of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security scholarship.