Simon Billinge
Physics and Astronomy,
College of Natural Science

Simon Billinge is a scholar, a leader and a teacher in the classroom and in the community.

Complex materials are one of the most important research frontiers in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Billinge is world famous for his work on pair distribution functions to analyze the structure of these complex materials. He has pioneered their application to many diverse sets of data, where they have opened new ways to understand complex materials, and he, literally, has written the book on them.

Billinge has successfully established collaborations across disciplinary boundaries at MSU and across the country.

The recipient of a number of professional honors, he received the Alfred P. Sloan Award in 1995 and was named a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2006. The recipient of a number of professional honors, he received the Alfred P. Sloan Award in 1995 and was named a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2006.

Bruce Dale
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, College of Engineering

Bruce Dale is recognized as a world leader in the application of biotechnology principles to produce fuels, chemicals and other products from renewable plant resources.

Because the current use of corn kernels for ethanol production is neither efficient nor sustainable, Dale’s research is timely and important to the goals of the nation and to the world.

His national and international reputation stems from his pioneering research on the ammonia freeze-explosion process. A major ethanol producer is commercializing his breakthrough ammonia pretreatment technology.

Dale co-chaired a National Research Council panel and has testified before Congress on the findings. He advises President George W. Bush and Gov. Jennifer Granholm on the practical use of biofuels.

Dale is devoted to teaching and research aimed at developing sustainable energy for modern society.

Marcos Dantus
Chemistry,
College of Natural Science

Marcos Dantus has been a leader in the development of ultrafast, femtosecond laser technology for the past 20 years. Throughout his scientific career, he has developed spectroscopic techniques, explained spectroscopic observables and used spectroscopy to gain molecular level insights into the dynamics of important chemical systems.

His work combines the development and application of novel femtosecond techniques in an insightful and original way to study elementary molecular interactions. His discovery and development of a device that maintains the integrity of laser pulses that pass through components in an optical spectrometer led him to start the company Biophotonic Solutions so he could continue the technical development of this methodology. His combination of novel technology with a thoughtful choice of clean molecular systems currently provides some of the best experimental data in this rapidly growing field.

Dean DellaPenna
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Natural Science

Dean DellaPenna is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on the biosynthesis of nutritionally important micronutrients in plants. His pioneering research on vitamin A and vitamin F biosynthesis in plants employs the tools of biochemistry, genetics and genomics in creative ways to uncover the enzymes that plants use to make these key molecules. His research also reveals the complex ways in which these vitamins contribute to the growth and stress tolerance of plants.

DellaPenna has been instrumental in pushing the international community to take on the challenge of using genomics and biochemistry to tackle the biofortification of foods important to people in developing countries.

This led to collaborative projects funded by international agencies and the Gates Foundation to improve the nutritional quality of rice, cassava and other foods for undernourished people in Africa and other countries.

Melinda Gann Hall
Political Science,
College of Social Science

Melinda Gann Hall, one of the nation’s leading scholars of judicial politics, has authored more than 40 refereed articles and chapters. Many have been published in the most prestigious and selective journals of political science research: American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science and Journal of Politics.

Hall’s work demonstrates that judicial elections are not just “beauty contests.” Among her findings: Competition is strong; voters are as well-informed in voting for judges as they are in voting for other political office holders; and underlying political and economic factors influence the public’s selection of judges in the same ways that it influences other elections.

Hall played a pivotal role in creating and maintaining the National Science Foundation-funded State Supreme Court Database. The project developed an analytical database of court cases over a multiyear period that allows researchers to study courts as policy-making bodies.

Merle Heidemann
Science and Mathematics Education, College of Natural Science

Merle Heidemann’s contributions to strengthening the content knowledge of students preparing for careers as K-12 teachers have helped build MSU’s reputation for graduating outstanding science teachers.

She helped create Division of Science and Mathematics Education programs for both undergraduate and graduate studies in science teaching, designed new programs and courses, and has served as an adviser to hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students.

Heidemann supports teacher candidates and practicing teachers in their development and continued growth as professionals.

She maintains a vigorous research program focused on how students learn science and brings this research into her classroom to help graduate students design and implement thesis research. She tackles every job with boundless energy, a positive attitude and a dedication to doing it right.

David Lusch
Geography,
College of Social Science

David Lusch, senior research specialist, has been a pioneer and leader in the field of remote sensing and geospatial research, education and outreach for 29 years. His contributions to a wide variety of applications – from hydrogeology to resource management and human health – have resulted in numerous direct benefits to society.

Lusch has mix of scientific curiosity, businesslike practicality and high-energy enthusiasm that enables him to get things done. He is an inspiring teacher and a gifted communicator who can convey complicated scientific concepts to any audience. An invaluable team contributor, he epitomizes the sentiment that much can be accomplished when nobody worries about who gets the credit. He is skilled at building networks of people from university, government, business and citizens groups and has diligently led several groundwater projects, both at the state and national levels, over the past 16 years.

James Hancock
Horticulture, College of Agriculture
and Natural Resources

James Hancock is a world authority on the evolution and ecology of strawberries and blueberries and is the author of a highly respected textbook for crop evolution. His work on blueberry chromosomal and genomic divergence has contributed significantly to the understanding of the adaptive and dynamic nature of autopolyploids. He also is a gifted plant breeder who has developed some of the highest quality and most quickly adopted blueberry cultivars worldwide.

Hancock’s publications in gene flow and crop evolution have led to invitations to participate in biotechnology biosafety issues by the Pew Initiative and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He is engaged in biosafety training internationally.

He served as director of the graduate program in plant breeding and genetics and has taken a leading role in bringing national and international attention to the need for plant breeding in the 21st century.

Steven Shaw
Mechanical Engineering,
College of Engineering

Steven Shaw is an internationally known leader in the field of nonlinear dynamics. His contributions range from theoretical treatises to pragmatic solutions and real-world applications. These applications span diverse fields of human endeavor from cutting-edge automotive applications to state-of-the-art micro-electromechanical systems. Shaw is considered a world leader in his field, not only for the quality of his work but also for its diversity.

Shaw’s seminal works on dynamic vibration absorbers have been translated into contemporary practice in the automobile industry. This environmentally sensitive design protocol could result in fuel savings of more than 20 million barrels of oil a year. Shaw has made significant academic contributions that have been transformed into cost-effective industrial realities.

Shaw is a consultant to national and international companies in this challenging field that requires the kind of innovative thinking reflected in his accomplishments.

Robert Smith
Medicine and Psychiatry,
College of Human Medicine

Robert Smith is among the foremost national and international leaders in establishing communication and provider–patient relationships as important in medicine. Smith identified the only evidence-based method for medical interviewing, and his textbook, which describes this patient-centered method, is used extensively in the United States and abroad for basic instruction.

Smith extended his research into primary care mental health with a focus on patients with unexplained symptoms. He combined his patient-centered method with medications and cognitive-behavioral treatment, providing the first evidence-based primary care treatment not requiring the help of mental health professionals.

He founded and continues to lead a required rotation in interviewing and psychosocial medicine, now a national model. He has written more than 100 articles and book chapters and won national and international awards for both his teaching and research.

Donna Wang
Medicine
College of Human Medicine

Donna Wang is an internationally known expert in cardiovascular physiology/hypertension and nanomedicine and a national leader in the field of biosensors in the cardiovascular system. Her research focuses on vascular response at the cellular and molecular levels. She has developed a novel model to explore the mechanisms behind salt-sensitive hypertension, which led to her work in biosensor-based investigation, nanotechnology and nanomedicine.

Wang is active in many university committees and projects and has garnered almost $5 million in grant funding over the past several years. She currently holds three Research Project Grants.

Wang is an adjunct at Xinjiang Medical University and Dalian Medical University and an honorary at Zhejiang University College of Medicine, all in the People’s Republic of China. She currently chairs the Women and Minorities Leadership Committee for the American Heart Association.

Ning Xi
Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering

Ning Xi is the John D. Ryder Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Robotics and Automation Laboratory. His pioneering work on Internet-based telerobotics has laid the foundation for integrating robotics with information technology. His research results on nano manipulation and assembly have been recognized widely as major breakthroughs in the field.

Xi’s publications include more than 300 technical papers in reviewed archival journals and conference proceedings. He has authored eight book chapters, edited one book, and been invited to present more than 70 seminars at universities, industrial organizations, and government agencies in the United States and abroad. Since coming to MSU, he has attracted more than $7 million of external research funding.

He has received seven major awards from professional organizations and government agencies, including election as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Valerie Nilson
Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, Student Affairs and Services

Valerie Nilson has been involved for more than two decades in MSU’s march toward a national reputation of excellence in the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Nilson has enabled thousands of students with significant learning disabilities to obtain an outstanding education and, ultimately, reach career and life goals.

Her pioneering work in the disability movement, best characterized as compassionate innovation and belief in the capabilities of others, has redefined learning disability.

Nilson’s leadership as an academic specialist raises expectations, develops impressive outcomes and emphasizes MSU’s leadership in inclusive, world-class education. She coaches, mentors, and, at times, prods students to expect more and, indeed, deliver more.

Her insight, advocacy, networking, and follow-through deliver innovative programming from scholarship programs to study-abroad initiatives.

Steven Poindexter
Southeast Region,
MSU Extension

For the past decade, Steven Poindexter, has been a champion of the Michigan sugar industry, using his expertise to form lasting partnerships with agribusiness and farmers to help develop new technologies.

While declining yields, rampant disease infestations, and production issues once threatened to kill this 100-year-old industry, Michigan now is the nation’s fourth largest producer of sugar beets, harvesting 3.5 million tons annually – with a $300 million impact on the state’s economy.

Poindexter’s work with the sugar beet industry is part of an exemplary 27-year career with MSU Extension. As an agricultural agent in Saginaw County, he built strong and trusted relationships with farmers and agribusiness and served in an important leadership role, particularly in the formation of the Area of Expertise teams.

He is a respected mentor for other agricultural educators and represents the land-grant ideal, using relevant research to address issues of concern.