Lyman Briggs College

Latest News

LBC Alumnus to Teach Nanotechnology Course at MSU's Evening College This Semester.

MSU Alum Frank Dolinar (LBC '76, Science Studies), will be teaching a three-part course at MSU's Evening College begining in March, called "Nanotechnology and G.R.I.N.: Technology for the 21st Century." From the MSUAA Evening College catalog:

"Nanotechnology has had a 25-year climb from utter obscurity to overnight success and has been defined as precision engineering at the molecular scale. It has also been described as the industrial revolution of the 21st century. Mimicking biological systems such as DNA, researchers are engineering new systems with specific characteristics and functions. Stronger and lighter materials can make cars nearly scratchproof; other materials are being used in clothes, luggage, sports equipment, the glass surface of your smart phone and in such fields as art, architecture and spacecraft fabrication. New research promises lithium-ion batteries with ten times the current charge capacity and the ability to recharge in 15 minutes. Nano-scale electronics make smart phones and tablets more capable with easy-to-use apps. And inexpensive postage-stamp-sized paper-based sensors can diagnose selected diseases in minutes. This course will also introduce you to G.R.I.N. (Genetics, Robotics, Information Technology and Nanotechnology) and discuss how it may better describe 21st century technology."

To register online, go to http://alumni.msu.edu/eveningCollege/ or call (517) 355-4562 to register by phone. E-mail evening_college@msualum.com for more information or to be added to the Evening College mailing list.

"She’s a scientist by day and an NBA dancer by night..."

LBC alum Andrea McCurry (2009 Human Biology) was recently added to the Detroit Pistons Dancers roster for the 2011-2012 season. Andrea is also a scientist at Emergent BioDefense Operations, where she researches vaccines.

Read her story>>>

LBC Dean Elizabeth Simmons named "February 2012 Woman Physicist of the Month” by the APS.

Faculty Conversations: Elizabeth Simmons. Dean Simmons was featured in the 12/16 "MSU News," a weekly report featuring news about MSU from the Division of University Relations at Michigan State University.

MSU News Article>>>

Lyman Briggs College Wins MSU Excellence in Diversity Award. Lyman Briggs College was recently named a recipient of a 2012 "Excellence in Diversity Award” (EIDA). The college was nominated in the Unit category, "Excellent Progress toward Advancing Diversity within Community.” EIDA is an award program that recognizes outstanding efforts of faculty, students and staff at MSU that are committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion and who actively engage in activities that demonstrate their commitment to these principles. Dean Simmons will accept a special plaque at the award ceremony on Friday, February 17, 2012. The program will be held at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, Big 10 B/C at 4:00 p.m. The event is open to the public and members of the LBC community are welcome to attend. For more information visit http://www.inclusion.msu.edu/Outreach/EIDA.html

Dean Simmons named AAS Fellow. Dean Elizabeth Simmons was recently named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Election as a Fellow of AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications. Dean Simmons' husband and colleague, Dr. Sekhar Chivukula, was also named as a AAAS Fellow.

For more information about AAAS and the Fellows visit http://www.aaas.org/ and http://www.aaas.org/aboutaaas/fellows/

MSU News Article>>>

Charlie Waller Update:

Charlie finds support, friends at school (The State News, 11/15/11)>>>

Mary Schroth Named Volunteer of the Month. Lyman Briggs alumna Mary Schroth (1981 Micrbiology) was recently named November's volunteer of the month by the Sparrow Women's Board of Managers and Sparrow Volunteer Services Department. Mary, who teaches at the Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center, became a cancer center volunteer after being treated for cancer herself six years ago.

LBC Alumnus Featured on "Spartan Sagas." Joe Gorz (2007 LB Human Biology) talks about the medical mission he went on to Huamachuco, Peru. Joe is now a third-year MSU osetopathic medicine student.

See Joe's saga here>>>

Help Support Lyman Briggs by Shopping on Amazon. Lyman Briggs College recently became an Amazon affiliate. What this means is that in exchange for posting a search widget on the LBC website, Amazon will give a percentage of all sales originating from the widget to Lyman Briggs College. Spread the word to friends, family, and neighbors before they go shopping at Amazon.com to simply hit our website to search through the homepage Amazon widget (lower left corner). This search ensures Briggs will get a little percentage from the sales. There is no extra cost to the shopper and no contracts to sign. Anyone can simply search for item, purchase, and support Lyman Briggs.

Update on Charlie Waller. There will be a benefit performance of the play Charlie and the Hump Sisters at the the Mid-Michigan Family Theatre in Lansing on Saturday, September 17 at 4 p.m. and Sunday, September 18 at p.m. The play is an adaptation of a book written by 7-year-old Dora Ivkovich for HPS faculty member John Waller's son Charlie who continues to struggle with a rare and inoperable form of cancer.

State News article about Charlie (8/31)>>>

Mid Michigan Family Theatre>>>

LBC faculty member writes op-ed for New York Times. Helen Zoe Veit, assistant professor of history and HPS faculty member in Lyman Briggs, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times entitled "Time to Revive Home Ec" (published September 5, 2011). The piece, which is related to Dr. Veit's research on the history of food and nutrition, discusses how a renewed interest in home economics could be used to address current concerns about chronic disease and obesity.

Read article here>>>

Cheruvelil and colleagues awarded NSF Grant. Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, Assistant Professor of Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, along with her colleagues Patricia Soranno, Associate Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife, and Pang-Ning Tan, Associate Professor of Computer Science, have been awarded a $2.2 million research grant from the National Science Foundation to study the effects of cross-scale interactions on freshwater ecosystems across space and time.

An abstract of the awarded project is available here>>>

Associated Press/Detroit News Article>>>

LBC Spring 2011 Commencement Video. The full Spring 2011 Commencement ceremony is viewable online on the WKAR website.

View the video here>>>

LBC faculty member featured in PBS documentary. Rob LaDuca, LBC Professor of Chemistry, will be featured in a documentary to be aired on WKAR-TV this August. The 2010 documentary, "Romantic Warriors - A Progressive Music Saga," is about the progressive rock scene in the USA and includes a segment on NEARfest. Professor LaDuca (a long-time NEARfest organizer) was interviewed there in 2009. PBS stations around the country have been picking up the documentary, and WKAR-TV will air it Thursday August 4 at 10 pm.

WKAR Schedule>>>

Kent Workman writes cover story for MSU Alumni Magazine. Kent Workman, Director of Student Affairs for Lyman Briggs College, recently wrote the cover story for the Summer 2011 issue of the Michigan State University Alumni Magazine. The article, "Alternative Spring Break: A 20-Year Tradition at MSU," recounts how groups of MSU students have traded traditional spring break activities for trips to perform community service. Kent has participated in Alternative Spring Break (ASB) for 22 years.

Read the Article>>>

Lyman Briggs College Welcomes New Director of Development & Alumni Relations. MSU Advancement and Dean Simmons are very pleased to announce that a new Director of Development & Alumni Relations has been named for Lyman Briggs College. Following a national search, which yielded a very strong candidate pool, we happily announce that Mark Johnston will be joining our team, effective August 29. Mark has served as Regional Director of Development for Southeast Michigan for the College of Literature, Science & the Arts at the University of Michigan, a position he has held for the last 6 years. Prior to his time at Michigan, Mark served for seven years as Director for the Miniwanca Education Center and Associate Executive Director for the American Youth Foundation. In addition to these and other positions – including many years as a swimming coach – Mark has proven his aptitude for working very effectively with students, faculty, volunteers, board members and donors. A resident of Okemos, Mark is extremely excited about using his abilities on behalf of our residential College community.

Lyman Briggs Alumnus Receives MSU Distinguished Alumni Award. The MSU Alumni Association and Lyman Briggs College are pleased to announce that Kenneth C. Earhart, M.D. (LBC Microbiology, 1983) has been selected to receive the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award. This is the highest recognition awarded by the MSU Alumni Association on behalf of the university to alumni. Dr. Earhart will receive his award on the evening of Thursday, October 20, 2011 (Homecoming weekend), at the MSU Alumni Association Grand Awards Ceremony. He received the Lyman Briggs College Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009.

Dr. Earhart was recently named Director of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Global Disease detection Program in New Delhi, India. The Center is charged with monitoring deadly pathogens and viruses, outbreak information, coordinating responses, and supporting the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and response network. He was also appointed as the CDC Country Director for India, where he will establish the GDD India Centre, a collaboration between the U.S. CDC and the Indian CDC (National Centers for Disease Control).

Dr. Earhart, who is a retired Navy Captain, was recently the Commanding Officer for the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No.3 (NAMRU-3), an infectious disease research institute. He supervised a staff of over 300 U.S. and international science and science support staff spread throughout the Middle East, Africa and South/Central Asia. He received his M.D. from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1988.

Dean Simmons quoted in article in New Scientist. Dean Elizabeth Simmons was recently quoted in an article in New Scientist by colleage Matthew Chalmers ("Out with a bang: The Tevatron's deathbed revelation," New Scientist 2811, 7 May 2011: 40-43). The article discusses exciting new experimental results in particle physics that hint at the presence of new particles and forces, beyond those already observed in nature. Specifically, it looks at a puzzling asymmetry in the way that top quarks are produced in proton/anti-proton collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The standard model of particle physics suggests that there should be very little correlation between the direction the initial proton beam was traveling (as opposed to the anti-proton beam) and the direction the newly-produced top quarks travel. But experiment has revealed that the top quarks are, in fact, more likely to travel in the same direction as the protons. Theorists have suggested numerous explanations, most invoking new subatomic particles or interactions. Dean Simmons' work has showed that certain proposed new particles would have caused other experimental side-effects that are not observed, making those scenarios unlikely to explain the top-quark data. At this point, the data-gathering and theorizing continue apace with no clear resolution in sight.

New Scientist website (articles only accessible to subscribers)>>>

Lyman Briggs Alumnus Inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Radiology. Norman Joseph Beauchamp JR, MD, MHS, FACR, of Seattle, WA, has been inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Radiology (ACR). The induction took place at a formal convocation ceremony during the recent 88th ACR Annual Meeting and Chapter Leadership conference May 14-18, 2011, in Washington, DC. Dr. Beauchamp is professor and chair of the department of radiology and professor of neurological surgery and industrial and systems engineering at the University of Washington. Dr. Beauchamp graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in LBS-Biology. He received his M.D. in 1990 from the MSU College of Medicine. He completed his radiology residency and fellowships in neuroradiology and neurointerventional radiology at Johns Hopkins.

Don Howard's Commencement Address. On May 7, Lyman Briggs Alumnus Don A. Howard, Ph.D. (1971 Physics) gave the Commencement address to the Spring 2011 Briggs graduates. Also in attendance were a number of members from Dr. Howard's own graduating class, in town for LBC's 40th-year reunion activities. His address recalls the early days of Lyman Briggs College, and connects the challenges its first graduates encountered to those graduates continue to face today:

"Now it is your turn. The challenges, once again, are great. But you are Briggs graduates. [You] are smart and resourceful. You care about your nation and your world. You understand that science can serve the common good. You are ready to do many things, 'not because they are easy, but because they are hard.' You are ready to take on the big goals such as fixing a broken global climate and building a new, twenty-first century international order precisely because, as Kennedy said, those goals 'will serve to organize and measure the best of [your] energies and skills.' The first Briggs class, the class of 1971, salutes the class of 2011 and wishes its members the best of fortune as you turn to those tasks."

Read the entire speech here>>>

Read commencement address by student speaker, Elizabeth Siegrist, here>>>

2011 Commencement Photos>>>

Photos from "Celebration 2011": 40-year Reunion and Steven Spees Retirement Dinner>>>

Tess Tavormina Receives Honors College Award. Lyman Briggs College Assistant Dean Tess Tavormina, Ph.D. was recognized on May 5th with a 2011 Honors College Award for Distinguished Contributions to Honors Students. Tavormina, who is also an LBC alumna (1973 Mathematics), joins former Lyman Briggs School Director Edward Ingraham (2002) as a recipient of this award that honors individuals who teach, advise and mentor Honors College students.

List of Past Winners>>>

LBC's Rob LaDuca named "Professor of the Year." LBC Chemistry professor Rob LaDuca is one of four professors from Michigan public universities to receive the Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year Award from the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan. The award recognizes outstanding contributions made by the faculty from Michigan’s public universities to the education of undergraduate students.

MSU News Story>>>

Aaron McCright: Political parties increasingly divided over global warming. In a recent study, LBC's Aaron McCright (HPS) contends that Americans are becoming increasingly polarized in their views on environmental issues, despite growing scientific consensus on global warming.

MLive Story>>>
Study in The Sociological Quarterly>>>