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Baker Named MAES Acting Director Baker named MAES Acting Director

John C. Baker, associate dean for research and graduate studies for the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), has been named acting director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, effective Nov. 1.

He will replace J. Ian Gray, who began his appointment as MSU Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Sept. 1. Gray served the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station since 1987, becoming director in 1996. He guided the MAES through difficult financial times and oversaw the expansion of its mission to enhance agriculture, natural resources, environmental stewardship, food and health, a secure food and fiber system, and family and community vitality in Michigan. During his tenure, the MAES aggressively extended its research agenda across campus, particularly in the social and behavioral sciences.

Baker, who has been with the CVM for more than 20 years, began his distinguished career in 1984, in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. He has served as section head for Food Animal Medicine and Surgery, and as acting dean of the CVM. He is currently CVM associate dean for research and graduate studies, director of the University Research Containment Facility and CVM Vivarium, and a professor of large animal clinical sciences.

“Dr. Baker has an extensive background in teaching and research, and has been very successful in attracting research support,” said Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Acting Director Baker will provide the continuity and leadership necessary to maintain and expand the excellent work of Director Gray and his team. I have great respect for and confidence in John Baker and look forward to working together.”

Baker is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He serves in numerous professional societies concerned with veterinary medicine, research and large animal industries, and has served on many college and university committees. He was honored in 2004 by the Association for Women Veterinarians with the group’s Distinguished Service Award. Baker received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctor of veterinary medicine degrees from Ohio State University. He served a clinical internship and clinical residency at the University of Minnesota, and received a doctorate in large animal clinical sciences from the University of Minnesota.

“We were fortunate to have had two outstanding candidates step forward for consideration,” Armstrong said. “I want to thank Dr. Tom Coon, CANR associate dean for graduate and international programs, for presenting his insights regarding the future of the MAES, and for his willingness to be considered for this short-term appointment. I would also like to thank the search committee, chaired by Dr. Richard Groop, and Dr. Gary Lemme, MAES associate director, and Doreen Woodward, MAES assistant director, for their work during this transition.”

MSU will conduct a national search for a permanent director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

Candidates for MAES Interim Director Hold Q&A Sessions

Tom Coon and John Baker, candidates for the position of MAES interim director, held open forums the week of Sept. 20. The two discussed challenges facing the MAES and the goals they would pursue if selected for the position. They also took questions from attendees, including faculty and staff members from around the university.

“Based on input from faculty and staff, we have identified two excellent candidates,” said Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The interim director will replace former MAES director Ian Gray, who was named MSU vice president for research and graduate studies Sept. 1.

Coon, professor of fisheries and wildlife and associate dean for graduate studies and international programs in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said that he would work to sustain existing MAES activities, which cut across several MSU colleges.

“The MAES is one of the premier stations in country,” said Coon, who has been at MSU since 1989. “So my first role would be to do no harm.”

Coon also discussed the importance of leveraging MAES funds, collaborating closely with faculty and staff members and administrators when making decisions, and developing a more integrated communication plan.

Baker, professor of large animal clinical sciences and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said that the MAES should participate in issues of regional and national importance, including discussions about a future national institute for food and agriculture research.

“The MAES has a national stature,” said Baker, who has been at MSU since 1984. “We can continue to serve as a model of what an agricultural experiment station should be.”

Baker also said he saw opportunities for the MAES to participate in health and life sciences initiatives to prepare MSU for greater success in obtaining National Institutes of Health funding, to facilitate discussion on the future of high-level biosafety containment facilities on campus and to better integrate MAES-funded social science work with other MAES research.

Both candidates, while agreeing to be considered for the acting directorship, have expressly stated that they do not wish to be considered for the position on a permanent basis. The acting director will likely serve through August 2005.

Armstrong said an announcement on who has been selected interim director should be made soon after Oct. 1.

MSU Part of New Center to Study Great Lakes and Health

Michigan State University will be an integral part of a newly formed center that will study the Great Lakes, looking at how humans affect the lakes and how, in turn, the lakes affect human health.

The new Center of Excellence for the Great Lakes and Human Health is funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and will be located at the Ann Arbor-based Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

MSU will contribute much to the center, said Joan Rose, holder of the Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research and MAES-affiliated water scientist, who is leading MSU’s work on the project, especially in microbiology.

“MSU has a very strong history in microbiology,” Rose said. “By combining the aspects of waterborne diseases, which are caused by microorganisms, and expertise in microbiology, as well as an understanding of the Great Lakes system, we can start to address some of these areas that have been neglected.”

“I believe we are in a unique position to address important issues related to human health, as we at MSU have strengths in the areas of pathogens, microbial ecology, and hydrology and modeling,” said Phanikumar Mantha, professor of civil and environmental engineering and geological sciences and one of the co-directors of MSU’s work on the project.

The center will focus on human health effects in the Great Lakes in three main areas: drinking water, beaches and harmful algal blooms.

“Defining and forecasting these relationships will be the primary research focus of the center,” Rose said. “Research will concentrate on providing forecasts of water quality that can be used directly to reduce threats to human health.”

The health and well-being of the Great Lakes is as much an economic issue as it is a health issue, Phanikumar said.

“I think health is wealth,” he said. “There has been a lot of debate recently on the connection between human health and the economy. I think an investment in health and the environment is an investment in our future prosperity.”

The Great Lakes, Rose said, contain the largest supply of fresh water in the world, providing 56 billion gallons of water daily to more than 40 million people. In addition, more than 500 beaches along its shores are used for swimming and other recreational purposes.

“With the recent incidences of contamination on our beaches, sewage spills and outbreaks of illness, the work we do through this center will have a real impact on our health and particularly our children’s health and how well we can protect our water quality,” Rose said.

Among other things, Rose is working to develop an accurate and reliable method to determine if fecal contamination is from humans or animals. She said this is necessary because human sources carry a greater risk of spreading disease.

Other partners in the center of excellence are the University of Michigan, the Florida Institute of Oceanography, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geologic Survey and the NOAA Beaufort Laboratory.

U.P. Producers May Benefit from Alternative Forages

MAES researchers say that growing and feeding alternative forages may help farmers in the Upper Peninsula reduce their feed bills.

A short growing season in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula often leaves dairy and livestock producers without adequate feed reserves during the winter and spring months before the first hay crop of the year can be harvested. Producers then must buy expensive hay, grains or other alternative feeds for their animals.

According to researchers at the MAES U.P. Experiment Station near Chatham, growing and feeding brassicas – forage crops such as forage rape, turnips and kale – may help producers reduce their feed costs.

Brassicas are a group of plants belonging to the mustard family. Forage brassicas are brassica species that have been developed specifically for their grazing potential.

“Brassica forage crops are characterized by high quality and high yield,” explained Richard Leep, MAES crop and soil sciences researcher. “These crops are used solely for grazing. Canola, another plant from the brassica family, is commonly used for oil.”

According to Doo-Hong Min, MAES crop and soil scientist, producers can integrate brassica forage crops into their traditional cropping systems by using them as a preseeding crop before seeding small grains and forages used for hay or pasture. Brassicas can also be seeded with oats.

“Another advantage to brassica forage fields is that they generally contain fewer weeds than other field crops,” Min said. “However, if broadleaf weeds become a problem, producers can spray with Dicamba™.”

Brassicas for forage should be planted before August 1 to allow for grazing in September, October and November.

Ben Bartlett, MSU Extension U.P. dairy and livestock agent, says that brassica crops are very cost-effective for producers.

“Brassicas are relatively high yielding and inexpensive. Like grain crops, they provide high quality feed for high lactating dairy cows, weaned calves and lambs, and they help condition beef cattle for the winter months,” he said.

Researchers estimate that beef cattle producers may be able to reduce their winter feed costs by nearly 50 percent by using brassica forages to extend the grazing season.

“Farmers may be able to save anywhere from $30 to $60 per head during the wintering period,” Bartlett said. “For a 50-head herd, this could lower purchased feed costs by $1,500 to $3,000.”

Bartlett noted that planting brassica forage crops is an excellent way to eliminate weeds before reseeding a hay field. As part of a crop rotation, brassica forages help to decrease insect and pathogen populations and help utilize soil nutrients, such as nitrogen found in manure.

“Brassica crops are a good fit for the U.P. region because their growing season consists of 90 days or less, they like the cooler weather and they are frost-tolerant,” he said.

Research Identifies and Characterizes Mixed-income Neighborhoods in Grand Rapids; Concept May Ease Gentrification and Blight Fears

As one of two Michigan cities that grew in population in the past decade (Ann Arbor is the other), Grand Rapids faces a unique set of challenges.

“The good news is that we’re gaining population,” said Carol Townsend, Michigan State University Extension (MSUE) urban community development agent in Kent County. “We still have community development needs; I don’t want to minimize that. But people are worried about gentrification. We have more middle-income people moving back into the city, and as the prices rise, some others are being priced out.”

Townsend’s concerns about gentrification and displacement of low-income households came from her work with two inner city neighborhood groups: the South West Area Neighbors (SWAN) and the South East Community Association (SECA). Both are primarily low-income neighborhoods, and both are experiencing gentrification pressures. Residents and business owners appreciate the revitalization that new middle-income households bring to their neighborhoods, but they are worried about the long-term impact and fear that affordable housing for lower income households might no longer be available. There is also a concern that some long-time neighborhood businesses would be forced out of the neighborhood eventually.

Townsend had heard about the concept of mixed-income neighborhoods and thought that it might be a good model for Grand Rapids to consider as it grows. But information about the idea was limited, so she contacted Urban Collaborators, an MSUE initiative. Its mission is to link MSU’s research and outreach resources with the needs of urban communities in several Michigan cities. Urban Collaborators connected Townsend with June Thomas and John Schweitzer, professors in the Urban and Regional Planning Program at MSU, and they developed a research project that was funded by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. The results were distributed to neighborhood leaders in June.

This seamless movement from community issue to research project to results that can be used in outreach and education perfectly embodies the land-grant philosophy and demonstrates the strong partnership between the MAES, MSUE and scientists throughout MSU.

Though there is no standardized academic definition of a mixed-income neighborhood, Townsend described it as a neighborhood with various types and prices of housing, allowing people with a range of incomes to live close to where they work in affordable, safe housing.

The researchers’ project had two parts. In the first, they analyzed census data to find stable mixed-income areas – areas in which the numbers of households in the two lowest economic classifications remained stable over 10 years.

“This meant that the lower income population was not being priced out by gentrification,” Thomas explained. “And it also meant that there weren’t too many lower income people moving in, which would have meant the neighborhood would have been moving downward in socioeconomic status.

“Basically, people don’t want to go down in income level because that leads to perceptions of blight and flight from the area,” Thomas continued. “They also don’t want income to go up too fast because then people feel that they can’t stay.”

Thomas and Schweitzer then conducted focus groups in four of these stable mixed-income neighborhoods to determine their common characteristics. The scientists also asked residents what they saw as stabilizing influences in the neighborhood as well as threats to neighborhood stability.

“We found that the stable groups were slightly different from other block groups in the city,” Thomas said. “They tended to have less vacant housing, less rental housing, lower median income for families compared with metropolitan median income, lower proportions of families in poverty and fewer people of color.”

Stabilizing influences were:

  • Religious communities, such as Catholic parishes, have kept people in neighborhoods.
  • Positive feelings about schools in the neighborhood.
  • Strong social networks between neighbors.
  • Emotional or familial connection to the neighborhood. Some residents inherit or buy from relatives, others buy in the neighborhood because of family.
  • Neighborhood associations.

Threats to stability were:

  • Poor school quality.
  • Problem neighbors, including poorly monitored or maintained rental properties.
  • Economic decline. People may have to move away to follow employment opportunities.
  • Racial or ethnic change.

“This information from the focus groups gave us data that we can use as an early warning system,” Thomas said. “We know what to look for to determine if a neighborhood is changing, either up or down.”

After a summary report was written in June, Townsend scheduled meetings with focus group participants and community leaders so Thomas and Schweitzer could discuss their findings.

“My first goal is to share the information,” Townsend said. “We want to educate people about the concept. Now we’re working on a newsletter about mixed-income neighborhoods that will be widely distributed. Both SWAN and SECA would like to be redeveloped as mixed-income neighborhoods -- where housing would be available to households of all income levels. Once we get feedback about the idea, we’ll formulate our next steps.”

In their report, Thomas and Schweitzer lay the groundwork for these next steps.

“Keeping mixed-income neighborhoods stable will require making sure the proportion of low-income residents doesn’t become overwhelming,” Thomas said. “Means will have to be found to maintain middle-class residents. Supporting home ownership also will be an important part of a strategy needed to maintain mixed-income housing. Tapping government or private programs that support home ownership could be an important strategy for maintaining a balanced population. Also, in 2000, our selected neighborhoods actually had lower median family income; this suggests that it’s still possible to maintain mixed-income neighborhoods that are not wealthy or even middle-class when compared with the city as a whole.”

Karen Plaut Named Animal Science Chairperson

Karen Plaut, a noted animal science researcher at the University of Vermont, has been named chairperson of the Department of Animal Science. Her appointment becomes effective January 1, 2005.

She succeeds Margaret Benson, who has served as interim chair for the past two years, and Maynard Hogberg, who served as chair from 1984 to 2002.

Benson will return to the Department of Animal Science faculty. Hogberg, who retired from MSU last year, now chairs the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University.

At the University of Vermont, Plaut was the chairperson of the Department of Animal Science and a professor of animal science with a secondary appointment as professor of pathology in the College of Medicine. She also served as associate director of the Vermont Space Grant Consortium.

Plaut has a distinguished record of achievement in teaching, research and outreach. She has taught courses ranging from introductory animal science to reproductive physiology and endocrinology. Her research focuses on mammary development and lactation in domestic animals and humans, and on the relationship between normal mammary development in the dairy cow and breast cancer in humans.

She was honored by the University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with the Joseph E. Carrigan Teaching Award (1997) and the Hub Vogelman Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship (2002). Her work also has been recognized by the American Cancer Society-Vermont Division, NASA, the American Dairy Science Association and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has served on peer review panels for the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Defense, the California Breast Cancer Research Panel, the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and the NIH. In 2002, Plaut was invited to join the European Academy of Sciences.

Plaut received her doctoral degree in animal science from Cornell University, her master’s degree in animal nutrition from Pennsylvania State University and her bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Vermont. She pursued postdoctoral studies at the National Cancer Institute at the NIH. In 1998, she took a two-year leave of absence from the University of Vermont to be the lead scientist for NASA's Biological Research Project for the international space station. She is a member of the American Society of Animal Science, the American Dairy Science Association and the American Society of Gravitational and Space Biology.

NIH to Make Final Reports Available Online

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released a draft proposal that would require researchers who receive NIH grants to provide the agency with electronic copies of final reports on their study results, which would be posted online in a federal digital archive that is free to all.

According to the proposal, researchers whose work is supported in whole or in part by NIH funds would need to make the final drafts of their reports available upon acceptance for publication. Within six months of a research study’s publication -- or sooner, if the publisher agreed -- the NIH would post the information on PubMed Central, a digital archive maintained by the National Library of Medicine.

The NIH would monitor the submission of the manuscripts as part of its annual review of grants.

Public comments on the proposal will be accepted until November 3. The agency's action follows a recommendation last July by the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, which urged the NIH to provide the public with free online access to articles resulting from research financed by the agency's grants and contracts.

“NIH's mission includes a longstanding commitment to share and support public access to the results and accomplishments of the activities that it funds,” the agency wrote in the notice for the proposal. “The NIH must balance this need with the ability of journals and publishers to preserve their critical role in the peer-review, editing and scientific quality control process.”

But scientific publishers have complained about having a publishing model forced upon them. They have argued that an open-access model would threaten publishers’ ability to decide when and whether to make articles free. They have also argued that such a model would cost them subscribers. That would cause professional societies and patient advocacy groups to lose a major source of funds, the publishers said.

Supporters of the proposal said the NIH had made a concession to publishers by allowing the six-month delay between a study's publication and its posting on PubMed Central. People who wish to read the articles immediately will have to subscribe to the scientific journals.

Access advocates have called the NIH proposal a big step forward in making study results available to a wide array of researchers, physicians and patients who otherwise might not have access to the information because they cannot afford expensive subscriptions to scientific journals.

MAES Welcomes New Faculty Member

The MAES is pleased to announce the appointment of Merritt Turetsky as assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife and plant biology.

Turetsky is a wetland ecologist and biogeochemist. Her research focuses on monitoring ecosystem function in wetlands and boreal landscapes. She is interested in climatic and management impacts on wetland structure and function, quantifying carbon pools in ecosystems vulnerable to global change, and the connections of plant physiology and evolution to biogeochemical cycling.

Turetsky received her doctoral degree in ecology and environmental biology in 2002 from the University of Alberta, where she focused on carbon storage and fluxes in peatlands. She came to MSU from the U.S. Geological Survey, where she was a Mendenhall postdoctoral fellow from 2002 to 2004.

Fruit IPM Agent Appointed

Nikki Rothwell has joined the MSU fruit research and Extension team as a fruit integrated pest management (IPM) agent at the MAES Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station near Traverse City.

Rothwell began her position Sept. 7.

“Nikki will focus on fruit IPM projects in northwestern Michigan, but her counsel will be available to growers statewide,” said Jim Nugent, coordinator and MSU Extension district horticulturist at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station. “She will focus on developing innovative, system-type methods and strategies for minimizing the risk from fruit pests. I’m looking forward to having Nikki join the Michigan fruit team.”

“The partnership established between Michigan cherry growers and MAES researchers and Extension will ensure continued delivery of the research-based information needed to sustain economic prosperity and responsible environmental stewardship,” said Gary Lemme, associate director of the MAES and director of Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), the state’s plant agriculture initiative at MSU.

Rothwell received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Western Michigan University, a master’s degree from MSU and her doctorate from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She held adjunct faculty teaching positions at the University of Massachusetts and Springfield Technical Community College before coming to Michigan.

Rothwell can be contacted at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station in Traverse City at 231-946-1510.

MAES Welcome Three New Staff Members

The MAES is pleased to announce the appointments of three new staff members who will help boost MAES technology and communications and marketing efforts. All three may be contacted by calling the main MAES phone at 517-353-0123.

Jawed Faruqi is an information technologist for the MAES. He manages the information systems, networks and databases, and provides support for MAES project and research personnel. He also maintains all MAES hardware and software. Before joining the MAES, Faruqi worked as senior system administrator and software engineer at Control System Integrator in Chicago and Lansing. He has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and is a Microsoft certified system engineer (MCSE). His wife, Tabassum, completed her internal medicine residency at MSU and is now an internist with MidMichigan Physicians Group in Lansing. Faruqi’s e-mail address is faruqi@msu.edu.

Geoff Koch is communications manager for the MAES. He is working on a variety of writing and editing projects, including the quarterly Futures magazine and annual plan of work documentation. Before moving to Michigan, Koch worked as a technical writer and editor at Intel in Oregon and California for several years. Last year he received a master’s degree in communication at Stanford and spent the summer on the science desk of The Dallas Morning News. Koch’s wife, Betty Izumi, is beginning her doctoral program in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies. Koch’s e-mail address is kochg@msu.edu.

Gwendolyn Skinner is marketing manager for the MAES. She will coordinate efforts to increase public awareness about MAES research and faculty members. Skinner has held marketing manager positions at several companies, including IBM and John Henry, and has more than 15 years experience in marketing and public relations. Skinner and her husband, Michael, Eaton County probate court judge, live in Delta Township. Skinner’s e-mail address is skinne46@msu.edu.

Summer 2004 Futures Now Available Online

Focusing on MAES research for Michigan’s health and well-being, the summer 2004 issue of Futures magazine is available on the MAES Web site.

  • Nutrition
  • Immunity.
  • Obesity.
  • Leadership skills for children in foster care.

These complex issues are extremely important to the health and well-being of Michigan. Because of its name, the MAES might not be the first entity you would think of when searching for research on these topics. But the MAES has a keen commitment to strong and healthy families, enhanced rural and urban community development, and profitable Michigan agriculture and natural resource industries. Two of the five MAES target research areas – food and health, and families and community vitality – directly focus on obesity, nutrition and leadership. In the summer 2004 issue of Futures, we highlight the work of many of the MAES microbiologists, food scientists, nutritionists, social work researchers and molecular biologists working to tackle these problems from a variety of angles. Studying the issues from all sides will help the MAES provide sound information to policy-makers and Michigan citizens.
Last Updated: January 16, 2007
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