| In 2006, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recognized MSU as one of 96 research universities with "very high research activity." The ranking signifies that the opportunities for research, scholarship and creative work at MSU are comparable to those found at other highly prestigious universities.
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MSU was highlighted on a BusinessWeek.com list of 10 smaller universities that are developing new technologies through academic research, licensing the inventions and helping launch businesses that use them. The report, prepared by Innovations Associates, was sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Related Information |
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MSU researchers contributed to the discovery of a new bacterium living in microbial mats near hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. The discovery has implications for renewable energy because of the bacterium's ability to turn sunlight into chemical energy. The project was funded by the NSF, the Department of Energy, the NASA Exobiology Program and the Thermal Biology Institute. Related Information |
| A $1 million grant from the U.S. Dept of Energy was awarded to a group of faculty scientists, Trevor Douglas, John Peters and Mark Young, to pursue a chemical reaction that would produce hydrogen inexpensively. Related Information |
| Three Montana State University physicists who do basic research relating to the military have been awarded $1 million from the U.S. Department of Defense. Alan Craig, Yves Idzerda and Randy Reibel will use the money for separate projects that deal with surveillance, computer memory and hostile missiles and will involve 13 undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at MSU. |
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MSU was selected as one of four new members of the NASA Astrobiology Institute in 2007 and will receive approximately $6 million during the five years of the grant. MSU scientists with the newly formed Astrobiology Biogeocatalysis Research Center will join NASA in studying prebiotic chemistry and the role of iron-sulfur minerals in the transition between the nonliving and living world. Related Information |
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International polar expert John Priscu spent his 24th season in Antarctica in spring 2008. This was the first time Priscu has visited during the "Polar Night" or Antarctic winter when daylight disappears and temperatures can reach minus-55 degrees F. Funded by the NSF, Priscu and his 17-member team set out to get "a more complete picture of what's happening in the lakes and liquid water that exist under Antarctica's glaciers." Related Information |
| The Medical Biofilm Laboratory team at MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering published several significant findings in industry publications including Wound Repair and Regeneration and BMC Microbiology. Findings related to chronic wounds and presence of bacteria in wounds may help to improve diagnosis and treatment. |
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A new barley variety and product designed to improve human health resulted from MSU research on high beta-glucan barleys. MSU graduates at WestBred in Butte developed BGLife Barley (TM), which has three times the beta-glucan soluble fiber needed to qualify for heart healthy FDA labeling. Related Information |
| Research findings from the study of upper body power and ski pole design is helping athletes on the MSU ski team as well as the Bozeman Ski Foundation improve performance. With the use of a custom-built ergo meter, exercise physiologist in the health and human development department Dan Heil investigated the relationship of athlete power and pole design. |
| MSU was selected as the sixth university-based Wind Application Center by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab program. The long-term goal of this nationwide program is to promote wind as a clean, viable and sustainable energy source for today and tomorrow. |
| The Center for Biofilm Engineering is considered the world's premier institute for the study of microbial biofilms, or slimy bacteria. These films are costing industry billions of dollars annually in fouled pipelines, clogged oil wells and contaminated water systems. Teams of scientists, industry leaders and students from chemistry, biomedical sciences, statistics, microbiology and engineering work together to find solutions to biofilm problems. Montana State University's Center for Biofilm Engineering edged out Harvard University by publishing more biofilm-related papers in 2004 and 2005 than any other institution according to the ISI Web of Science database. Harvard ranked second in both years. |
| Gary Caton, Greg Durham, Frank Kerins and James Lin, the College of Business' four tenure-track finance professors, have all been published in top-tier finance journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. The vast majority of finance faculty members around the world - even those supported by PhD student research assistants - have not met the rigors of these journals.
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MSU College of Engineering's Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) received a four-year $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study ways to heal chronic wounds, which place diabetics at much greater risk of undergoing foot or lower-leg amputations. One study found that 80% of diabetics who underwent such an amputation died within five years. CBE started chronic wound research in 2004 after the medical director of a wound care center in Texas asked the CBE to help him determine whether biofilms play a role in patients' persistent wounds. Undergraduate research provided the data used to win the grant.
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B-Rex continues to amaze researchers and grab headlines: Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies and several other MSU researchers have published another discovery in the prestigious journal Science. The Tyrannosaurus rex that became famous for yielding soft tissue, blood vessels and tissue typical of a female bird has now produced 68-million-year-old protein. The discovery is significant for several reasons. It strengthens the theory that dinosaurs and birds are related. The instrument and techniques the researchers used offer a better way to study fossil preservation and evolution in the future. This breakthrough also opens the door for more discoveries and may have implications for the medical field. The finding made headlines around the world and was featured by The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NBC and numerous other press agencies. Related Information |
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MSU researchers from the College of Engineering have received $1.14 million from NASA to study aerosols and water vapor in the atmosphere. Kevin Repasky and Joseph Shaw, electrical and computer engineering faculty members, are collaborating on the remote-sensing project with two physics faculty members and two graduate students. The team will design and build two devices and will buy, install and maintain two others. Their data will inform climate modeling and help scientists understand the complex interaction of aerosols, which may cause a cooling effect, and greenhouse gases that cause warming. Related Information |
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MSU was recently accepted as the 42nd member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, an international group devoted to gravitational waves. The waves, when detected, will offer a new way to explore and understand the universe according to Neil Cornish, an astrophysicist who leads the Montana Gravitational Wave Astronomy Group. LIGO is short for Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatories. Related Information |
| MSU has 116 active technology licenses, 74 of which are with Montana companies, and 79 patents have been issued for MSU discoveries.
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Montana State University posted a record 103 million in research expenditures in 2006, putting MSU in the top 100 public universities in grants received for research. Related Information |
| The Thermal Biology Institute offers multidisciplinary programs for graduates and undergraduates in Yellowstone National Park, which exhibits one of the most diverse geothermal features on the planet. A Montana State University graduate student has found a new protein in an organism that lives in the harsh environment of acidic hot springs. The protien detoxifies molecules, protects DNA and is the first of its kind found in these high-temperature microorganisms. MSU's research presence in Yellowstone attracts scholars and students from all over the world. Related Information |
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