Discovery and Innovation for Impact

At Michigan State, we pursue excellence in service to the common good, generating new knowledge and applying it in practical ways to address complex problems and improve lives. We will expand our capacity for local and global impact, and by 2030 will reach $1 billion in annual research expenditures.

MSU scientists, scholars and artists make breakthroughs, apply research and drive innovation to improve lives and communities today and tomorrow. They pursue answers to questions that lay the groundwork for solving problems decades in the future. They also study our histories and cultures to ensure new knowledge is informed by our collective and unique experiences as part of the larger society. 

Research activities identify and help address challenges that plague segments of our population, locally and globally. Researchers in the social sciences, humanities, health and law examine underlying reasons for disparities and inform policy solutions to mitigate their effects on vulnerable members of society and promote well-being for all.

Michigan State’s world-renowned research and scholarship spans everything from nuclear physics to plant biotechnology, quantitative health to supply chain management, K-20 education to communications and media studies and beyond. MSU researchers are engaged in cutting-edge discovery and creative work across every continent and support world-class research programs.

Michigan State has enormous strengths and a distinctive culture flowing from its roots as the nation’s premier land-grant university. We will build upon those strengths that serve people and communities today and draw on our uncommon will to bend the curve for humanity tomorrow. Our work will bring together disciplines in new ways and recognize critical intersections, including how new facilities, judicious land management and state-of-the-art equipment enable research excellence.
 

Goal: Be a leader in developing transdisciplinary solutions to ecological and human problems affected by social, economic, political, climate and environmental changes
 

One

Demonstrate excellence in science, scholarship and creative endeavors, both in pursuit of fundamental knowledge and research designed to improve the human condition and address problems of today while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.

Strategies/Actions

• Be the global leader and center for nuclear science and ensure the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) brings benefits to Michigan; invest in FRIB to drive discovery science, maintain educational excellence and expand education and training pathways, pursue differentiating initiatives that yield practical benefits (e.g., multidisciplinary biomedical imaging and therapeutics based on harvested isotopes, materials science and space electronics testing) and continue to attract government investment to remain at the forefront of nuclear science research and innovation critical drivers needed to spur new synergies and economic development
• Lead local and global efforts to enhance food production, distribution, food safety and food security in a changing global climate using our strengths in plant and soil sciences, environmental sciences, animal health and production, agriculture and natural resource interactions, nutrition, big data and machine learning, and geospatial imaging, along with our worldwide network of partners
• Building on the strength of MSU Extension, support research initiatives to create applied, problem-based solutions in real-world contexts at the regional, national and international levels, in urban and rural environments, working in partnership with communities
• Facilitate planning and collaboration around submission of large transdisciplinary grants, including seed funding, to yield select transformative research initiatives in priority areas such as food and health and imaging
• Support research excellence through a coordinated planning approach that aligns the university’s integrated facilities and land-use plan, MSU’s five-year capital plan and requests for state capital outlay support, philanthropic priorities/donor outreach and faculty recruitment
• Strengthen campuswide interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary solutions to climate/environmental change
• Continue faculty hiring initiatives such as the Global Impact Initiative; use these resources to strengthen areas of excellence, build capacity to meet society’s challenges and diversify faculty areas of expertise
• Advance the MSU arts strategy, designing deliberate and substantive opportunities to bring the arts into active engagement with research across disciplines
• Nominate faculty to serve in leadership/advisory roles in key federal and state agencies

Two

Invest in research to advance partnerships that increase economic development and opportunity in Michigan and beyond and help us understand, shape and improve the future of work and the workforce

Strategies/Actions

• Engage in systems-level and multidisciplinary research to assess the societal implications of change brought about by the fourth industrial revolution, particularly in the labor market and fundamental nature of work
• Build upon Michigan’s history as the automotive capital of the world, our proximity to leading industry partners and cross-campus expertise in engineering, business and social sciences to play a leading role in developing human-centric, multimodal mobility solutions for the 21st century
• Forge new partnerships with industry, health care, and local, regional and national businesses to commercialize MSU inventions, enhance economic development and create internship and career opportunities for students through a robust ecosystem of startups, research institutes and commercial enterprises powered by an MSU innovation network spanning Lansing, East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Detroit and beyond

Three

Develop and implement new strategies to recruit and retain a broad range of highly talented student and faculty researchers and scholars across all disciplines

Strategies/Actions

• Expand collaboration with key corporate, governmental and educational partners
• Incentivize development of new graduate-student-focused training programs
• Increase availability of research programs for high school and undergraduate students to enable every student who wants a research experience to complete one while developing pathways to careers in research