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.
News
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Weekly Beet - June 5, 2020
Published on June 5, 2020
In this newsletter - Department seeking nominations for Staff Member of the Year Award and soliciting applications for staff enhancement/development requests. - Keeping your Apple Mac computer up to date and secure. - MI Wheat Proposal Timelines.
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Weekly Beet - May 29, 2020
Published on May 29, 2020
In this newsletter - Covid-19 updates, administrative employee schedules, various courses offerings for self improvement. Air Travel cancelled or delayed now eligible for refund. Payroll time Reminders. MSU Academic Calendar.
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MSU researchers to develop management tool for Chesapeake Bay watershed
Published on May 28, 2020
With a $1 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, two MSU researchers will develop a multi-objective optimization tool to help agencies make management decisions for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
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Weekly Beet - May 22, 2020
Published on May 22, 2020
In this newsletter - * Scheduled Event – Alex Moauro - Physiology – Comprehensive Exam. * Department Requests that 2020 Graduating Students complete a survey to be included on the 2020 Graduate spotlight.
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MSU announces new Center for PFAS Research
Published on May 20, 2020
The Center for PFAS Research brings together faculty from across Michigan State University to study the health and environmental issues around PFAS chemicals.
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.
