Achievement

The MSU IGERT Program completed an interdisciplinary course focused on advanced methods in surface analytical techniques. Ten IGERT students and two additional graduate students received lecture components from six different IGERT faculty and/or professionals and conducted independent research projects including confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The course was co-directed and co-taught by MSU IGERT faculty and provided students an unparalled opportunity to become fully-trained on advanced instrumentation followed by application on their own research projects. Individual student projects catalyzed by the IGERT advanced methods course have led to more intensive efforts on the role of microorganisms in hailstone formation, mineralogical properties of Antarctica ecosystems, and use of confocal microscopy to demonstrate differential expression of genes in co-culture experiments designed to enhance production of specific metabolites.