Achievement

A large group of Ph.D. students and faculty (~12 total) from the MSU NSF IGERT Program on Geobiological Systems traveled and presented papers at the 14th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, ISME14, in Copenhagen, DENMARK, August 19-24, 2012. The representation of our IGERT Program at an international event was planned and coordinated to accomplish several goals. Our group presented over 15 papers total at this event and interacted with international colleagues who have been an integral part of several IGERT trainee research programs or international internships. One of our IGERT trainees won competition for a poster award. Several new contacts were established between potential international hosts and MSU IGERT trainees who are planning international research rotations. IGERT faculty met with international colleagues from Denmark and the USA to plan and execute a special issue in Frontiers in Microbiology focused on systems biology of microbial mat communities.