STATE UNIVERSITIES
CMU’s $95 million Biosciences Building half complete
The construction project manager overseeing the 169,000-square-foot Biosciences Building, the largest capital project in Central Michigan University’s 120-plus year history, recently reported the project is half finished. The interior construction of the building is well underway and includes a multipurpose auditorium, active learning classroom, informal meeting spaces and an open floor plan to encourage collaborative learning. The Biosciences Building will be a student learning, research, high-tech academic center. It will house 40 research-active faculty members and provide space for classrooms and laboratories.
Grand Valley and Consumers Energy announce $15M leadership center
Grand Valley State University’s Pew Grand Rapids Campus will be home to a $15 million leadership center, the university and Consumers Energy recently announced. The three-story, 35,000-square-foot building will be owned by Consumers Energy and designed for professional development for company employees. It will be located just south of the L. William Seidman Center on Front Avenue SW and is scheduled to open in late 2016. The center will leverage the expertise of Grand Valley faculty and staff, and university facilities.
MSU BEACON Center wins $22.5M grant to continue evolution research
Michigan State University has been awarded $22.5 million by the National Science Foundation to continue the research, education and outreach activities of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. BEACON is a consortium of MSU, North Carolina A&T State University, University of Idaho, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Washington. Since 2010, BEACON has brought together evolutionary biologists, computer scientists and engineers to explore evolution going on in today’s world. Researchers have provided insights into the evolution of disease, antibiotic resistance, and predicting how populations of organisms respond to climate change.
PEER INSTITUTIONS
Research finds intellectual pursuits may head off addiction
Challenging the idea that addiction is hardwired in the brain, a new University of California, Berkeley study of mice suggests that even a short time spent in a stimulating learning environment can rewire the brain’s reward system and buffer it against drug dependence. Scientists tracked cocaine cravings in more than 70 adult male mice and found those whose daily drill included exploration, learning and finding hidden tasty morsels were less likely than their enrichment-deprived counterparts to seek solace in a chamber where they had been given cocaine. Previous studies have found that poverty, trauma, mental illness and other environmental and physiological stressors can alter the brain’s reward circuitry and make us more susceptible to substance abuse.
Climate change threatens one of Lake Erie’s most popular fish
Research has suggested yellow perch grow more rapidly during the short winters resulting from climate change, but a new Ohio State University study shows warmer water temperatures can lead to the production of less hardy eggs and larvae that have trouble surviving these early stages of life in Lake Erie. The survival problem could help explain why yellow perch numbers in the lake have been low since 2003, and stand at only about half of the average fish population recorded during its heyday in the 1960s and ’70s.
