In the 2026 Quacquarelli Symonds, or QS, World University Rankings: Sustainability, Michigan State University ranks No. 35 globally among 1,994 participating institutions and No. 6 nationally, positioning MSU within the top 2% worldwide. Now in its fourth year, the QS Sustainability Rankings assess how well universities are addressing some of the world’s most significant environmental, social …
A retired University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University has been honored for lifetime achievements by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Hassan K. Khalil was presented the 2025 ASME Rufus Oldenburger Medal — the highest honor presented by ASME in the field of automatic control — during the ASME Modeling, Estimation and Control Conference in October in …
Each year, the world produces roughly 100 million tons of flexible multilayer plastic packaging — materials that keep food fresh and pharmaceuticals safe from moisture and oxygen. Yet most of these plastics are nearly impossible to recycle due to their complex, chemically incompatible layers. Michigan State University scientists have developed a new kind of plastic …
A Michigan State University researcher has been honored with the Soil Science Research Award from the Soil Science Society of America, one of the highest honors for advancing scientific knowledge in the field. Bruno Basso, a world-renowned expert in sustainable agriculture and precision agriculture systems, received the award Nov. 10 at the SSSA’s CANVAS conference …
A newly discovered signaling pathway explains how plants delay flowering when phosphorus runs low, opening doors to nutrient-efficient crops. Phosphorus, a key ingredient in fertilizers, is running out. The world’s food systems depend on phosphorus mined from limited reserves, yet much of what is applied to fields washes away, leaving soils increasingly depleted. As phosphorus …
When highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, first appeared in U.S. dairy cattle, it shocked the scientific community. The virus, long associated with birds, had crossed a species barrier no one anticipated. In Michigan, however, the response framework was already underway. In the inner circle of that response was Kimberly Dodd, who now serves as dean …
In California’s Death Valley, where summer temperatures regularly soar above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, life seems almost impossible. Yet among the cracked earth and blinding sunlight, one native plant not only survives — it thrives. That plant, Tidestromia oblongifolia, has helped Michigan State University scientists uncover how life can flourish in extreme heat, revealing a potential …
Evolution is usually too slow to observe in a human lifetime. But in a Michigan State University lab, it plays out in days, years and now decades. Beginning in 1988, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor Richard Lenski shepherded the rapidly growing model organism Escherichia coli, or E. coli, through 75,000 generations. Lenski and researchers in the Department of Microbiology, …
In a discovery that could shift labor and delivery practices around the world, researchers at Michigan State University have found that the effectiveness of oxytocin — a common medication used to induce or speed up labor — depends on the time of day it’s administered, especially for patients with gestational diabetes. The study, published in Molecular …
The Spark: A Seed in the Stacks Innovation often begins with a single question. For Mammoth Distilling, that question emerged during a routine research session in the Michigan State University (MSU) library: What happened to Michigan’s legendary rye varieties? While researching whiskey heritage in the MSU library, Ari Sussman, an MSU graduate and a Mammoth Distilling team member, stumbled upon a reference to Rosen …
