News and Current Events
Student Newspaper Snares Online News Award
The State News, the student newspaper at MSU, won anOnline Pacemaker award from the Associated Collegiate Press, the nation's largest student media organization. The award recognizes the nation’s best student-run online news websites.
That brings to 15 the total number of Pacemaker awards received by The State News over the years. In addition, eight staff members won individual prizes at the November competition.
Bio Engineering Facility to open this year
By Tom Oswald
Michigan State University is being honored by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce for construction of the Bio Engineering Facility.
The chamber is honoring MSU for its commitment to economic development, as well as research and development in the biomedical sciences and human health.
Ground was broken in June 2013 for the 130,000-square-foot building. It is expected to open for business in the fall of 2015.
Stephen Hsu, MSU vice president for research and graduate studies, said the building represents MSU’s commitment to research in the biomedical sciences and its impact on human health in areas such as nanotechnology, robotics, tissue engineering and imaging.
Three MSU colleges will use the facility for interdisciplinary collaboration: The colleges of Engineering, Human Medicine and Natural Science.
Laboratories in the building will have an open-floor design to enhance collaborative research. The modular construction of the labs will provide flexibility as the nature of research evolves over the years.
The facility will be located between the Life Sciences and Clinical Center buildings on the south side of the MSU campus. The building will be physically connected to the existing
Clinical Center C-Wing and Life Sciences B-Wing with proximity to the Radiology Building.
New Bird Species Makes Ornithologists Hearts Flutter
By Layne Cameron
An international team of scientists has confirmed the discovery of a new bird species more than 15 years after the elusive animal was first seen on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Researchers from Michigan State University, Princeton University and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences discovered the Sulawesi streaked flycatcher, Muscicapa sodhii. The bird is distinguished by its mottled throat and short wings and was found in the forested lowlands of Sulawesi where it had first been observed in 1997.
The researchers report in PLOS ONE that the new species is markedly different from other flycatchers in its plumage, body structure, song and genetics, proving that it is a new species. Because the bird has survived in a region heavily degraded by cacao plantations, the species is not currently at risk of extinction.
“The Sulawesi streaked flycatcher is similar to related Asian species in its song, producing whistles, chirps and trills, but is slightly more high-pitched and lacks the lower-pitched notes that other species make,” said Pam Rasmussen, MSU assistant professor of zoology and assistant curator of mammalogy and ornithology at the MSU Museum. "We were lucky to be able to make the first known recording of this bird singing."
Rasmussen, the author of Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide, also runs the global bird sounds website AVoCet, where the bird's song is archived.
New Grads in High Demand
By Andy Henion
Hiring is expected to jump a whopping 16 percent for newly minted degree-holders this year, according to Recruiting Trends. MSU economist Phil Gardner annually conducts the survey, the nation’s largest with responses from 5,700 companies.
“Employers are recruiting new college graduates at levels not seen since the dot-com frenzy of 1999-2000,” said Gardner, director of MSU’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute. Competition for qualified candidates is escalating to a degree rarely seen in the past 10 years.”
Most industries report a rapid increase in anticipated hiring, led by information services (up 51 percent over last year) and finance and insurance (up 31 percent). Other growing industries include professional, business and scientific services; government; manufacturing; nonprofits; and health services.
In addition, the market is strong for nearly all types of new degree-holders. Those with an MBA degree lead the way with an estimated 38 percent spike in hiring, followed by doctorate (up 20 percent), associate’s (up 19 percent), bachelor’s (up 16 percent) and professional (up 8 percent).
MSU in Top 100 Worldwide
By Tom Oswald
Michigan State University is among the top 100 universities in the world, according to a new set of rankings from U.S. News and World Report. According to the rankings, which list the top 500 universities in the world, MSU is tied for 75th with the Netherlands’ Leiden University.
This is the first time U.S. News and World Report has rated universities on a global scale. It used a new set of criteria, with a heavy emphasis on the schools’ research prowess. The rankings also list the universities by subject areas. MSU ranked 12th in the world in the field of plant and animal science.
areas in which MSU excelled included agricultural sciences (No. 21), economics and business (No. 23), environment/ecology (No. 27) and physics (No. 36).
The new rankings rated Harvard University the No. 1 school in the world, followed by MIT, University of California-Berkeley, Stanford and Oxford University.
