MSU Foundation Professors

Overview

Established in 2014 through the generosity of the MSU Foundation, the university awards the title "MSU Foundation Professor" to selected current and new faculty. Award of the title is intended to assist MSU in recruitment, recognition, and retention of outstanding faculty at all academic ranks, with the primary aim of enhancing the stature of the institution in research and creative activity.

The award of the title will be made to individuals who combine externally recognized, exemplary scholarly accomplishment and/or potential, with clear professional relevance to specific areas of MSU scholarly need, disciplinary development, or research or creative emphasis. Consideration will also include the candidate's teaching innovation and excellence.

Faculty awardees retain the title of "MSU Foundation Professor" for the duration of their service at MSU. Typically, each also receives scholarly support for the first five years after their award.

Designation requires:

1. A letter of nomination from an MSU dean.
2. Substantial and laudatory written assessment of the accomplishments and/or prospects of the awardee from external peer reviewers.
3. Approval by the Provost and the Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation

Support for item #2 may include evidence such as:

• Letters of recommendation
• Referee reports from scholarly publications and grant proposals
• Published critical reviews of professional books, film, art exhibits, musical, dance or theatre performance, or other similar creative activity.
• Citations from externally awarded prizes or honorary degrees.

Completed nomination packets should be emailed to vprappts@msu.edu for routing.

Upon selection, the nominating dean and awardee will be informed and an announcement will be drafted and published by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation. While MSU Foundation Professorships are awarded on a rolling basis as received, articles announcing such are done bi-annually at the beginning of the Fall and Spring semesters. New MSU Foundation Professors are also invited to the university investiture event held in the fall.

To learn more about the following outstanding faculty and their work, visit our research news site for press releases and video presentations and also visit the MSU Foundation website.

MSU Foundation Professors

• Bruno Basso '17, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Earth & Environmental Sciences
• Christoph Benning '14, College of Natural Science, Plant Research Laboratory
• Frederica Brandizzi '15, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Plant Biology
• Ruth Nicole Brown '21, College of Arts and Letters, Dept. of African American and African Studies
• Andrew Christlieb '14, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Computational Mathematics, Science & Engineering
• Marcos Dantus '16, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Chemistry
• Brad Day '20, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Dept. of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
• Dimitar Deliyski '15, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Communicative Sciences Disorders CAS
• Dean DellaPenna '14, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Biochemistry
• Todd Elder '20, College of Social Science, Dept of Economics
• Asgi Fazleabas '18, College of Human Medicine, Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
• Matthew L.M. Fletcher '20, College of Law, Indigenous Law and Policy Center
• Ken Frank '15, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational Psychology & Special Education
• Brian Gulbransen '17 College of Natural Science, Neuroscience Program
• Gregg Howe '16, College of Natural Science, Plant Research Laboratory
• Xuefei Huang '17, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Chemistry
• Eric J. Hunter '20, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Communicative Sciences & Disorders
• Joey Huston '16, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Physics-Astronomy
• Thomas Jayne '15, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dept. of Agricultural Food & Resource Economics
• Jiming Jiang '17, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Plant Biology
• Russell Johnson '20, Eli Broad College of Business, Dept. of Management
• R. James Kirkpatrick *, '18, College of Natural Science, Depts. of Chemistry, and Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Chris Klausmeier '16, College of Natural Science, Kellogg Biological Station
• James Klausner '16, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
• Kelly Klump '14, College of Social Science, Dept. of Psychology Social Science
• Elena Litchman '16, College of Natural Science, Kellogg Biological Station 
• Yunhao Liu '18, College of Engineering, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering
• Richard Lucas '15, College of Social Science, Dept. of Psychology Social Science
• Tapabrata (Taps) Maiti '17 College of Natural Science, Dept. of Statistics & Probability
• Laura McCabe '19 Colleges of Natural Science and Osteopathic Medicine, Depts. of Physiology and Radiology
• James McCusker '18 College of Natural Science, Dept. of Chemistry
• Shannon Manning '15,  College of Natural Science, Dept. of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics CNS
• Beronda Montgomery '16, College of Natural Science, Plant Research Laboratory
• David Morgan '19 College of Human Medicine, Dept. of Translational Science and Molecular Medicine
• Amirpouyan Nejadhashemi '19 College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Depts. of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
• Ioannis "John" Papapolymerou '15, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Piotr Piecuch '20, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Chemistry
• Barry Pittendrigh '16, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dept. of Entomology Agriculture
• Hayder Radha '20, College of Engineer, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Peter Savolainen '18, College of Engineering, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Xiaobo Tan '16, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Terrie Taylor '19 College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dept. of Tropical Medicine
• Michael Thomashow '16, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Plant Soil & Microbial System
• Alexander (Sasha) Volberg '15, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Mathematics
• Guowei Wei, '20, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Mathematics
• Teresa Kaye Woodruff '20, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
• Yimin Xiao '18, College of Natural Science, Dept. of Statistics and Probability

* Deceased