Welcome to the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences at Michigan State University. With expertise ranging from ecosystems services and disease management, to plant breeding, genomics, and food safety, we provide leadership and deliver programs that are internationally recognized and respected and have impact at local, national, and international levels. To provide this leadership, we work in an interdisciplinary and collaborative manner to effectively address complex problems and emerging threats that challenge food production and security. Above all, we value our missions of teaching, extension/outreach, research, international, service, and stewardship. We are home to 70 faculty, 100 graduate students, 86 post-docs and staff members, and 200 undergraduate and certificate students. For more information see our mission statement.
PSM In The News
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How do crops cope with stress?
Published on September 22, 2021 by MSU Today
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MSU-led team receives EPA grant to explore biosolid treatments, effects of pollutants such as PFAS
Published on September 17, 2021 by Michigan Farm News
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MSU Crop and Soil Sciences Student Payton Perkinson Wins Top Award in GCSAA Scholars Competition
Published on September 7, 2021 by Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA)
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Student Organic Farm offers fresh veggies for fall
Published on August 12, 2021 by MSU Today
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The SportsField Management Interview: John “Trey” Rogers III, Ph.D.
Published on June 28, 2021 by SportsField Management
News
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Weekly Beet -October 22 2021
Published on October 22, 2021
In this weeks issue: Payton Perkinson is the winner of the Mendenhall Award of $6,000 in the 2021 Scholars Competition offered through the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and information on many seminars and events. -
Weekly Beet -October 15, 2021
Published on October 15, 2021
In this weeks issue: Lisa Bowen awarded the 2021 PSM Staff Employee of the Year. Various conferences and seminars. -
Weekly Beet -October 6, 2021
Published on October 8, 2021
In this weeks issue: MSU Benefits Open Enrollment, various webinars and seminars. -
WEEKLY BEET - SEPTEMBER 30, 2021
Published on September 30, 2021
In this weeks edition: Michigan Association of Extension Agents selected Kim Cassida as the 2021 Outstanding Academic Specialist.
Meet a Faculty Member
Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences is excited to welcome another new faculty member to our team! Addie Thompson joined our team in January in research and teaching.
Thompson received her Bachelor’s of Science in genetics from Iowa State University, and her PhD in Plant Breeding and Molecular Genetics from University of Minnesota. Thompson has always been interested in science with math and science teachers as parents, but her interest in food crops and genetics didn’t come until later. While in middle school, Thompson first gained an interest in genetics through a summer camp she attended right after the human genome had just been sequenced. Later on, in high school, Thompson became interested in international agriculture when she had the chance to intern in the Philippines through the World Food Prize Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa.
Following her graduation from the University of Minnesota, Thompson continued to work at the University of Minnesota using genomewide marker effects to characterize diverse maize germplasm and genetic architecture with Dr. Rex Bernardo. Following this, in January, 2015, Thompson began working at Purdue University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. While at Purdue, she worked with quantitative analysis of agronomic traits, high-throughput phenotyping, and genomewide association to identify targets for maize and sorghum improvement with Dr. Mitch Tuinstra.
Thompson is looking forward to co-teaching Advanced Plant Breeding as well as Frontiers in Computation and Plant Sciences, while spending a majority of her time researching maize genetics. Thompson feels the position has a lot of potential for growth, and she is excited to work with other scientists and researchers to see how others will be able to benefit from her research. She is interested in creating models to predict how plants grow and respond to different environments.
She says some of her best works to date have yet to be published and the rest of the Plant, Soil and Microbial Science department is eager to read them when they are! When she isn’t on campus, Thompson enjoys playing with her two young children, and being involved in church and music.
