MSI News

MSI PI Sam Kelly (associate professor, Large Lakes Observatory; UMD Physics and Astronomy) is part of an international research team that will use satellites to measure the height of water in oceans, lakes, and rivers across the planet.

Three MSI PIs have been named to the Academy for Excellence in Team Science, one of the Academies for Excellence at the University of Minnesota.The three faculty members are:Assistant Professor Peter Larsen (Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences)Professor Larsen uses MSI resources to perform multi-omic analyses that investigate epigenomic vulnerabilities contributing to the origin of sporadic disease and emerging zoonoses at the wildlife-livestock interface.Professor Sang-Hyun Oh (Electrical and Computer Engineering)Professor Oh uses MSI for research into the interaction of light with metallic nanostructures for the use of biosensing, metamaterials, and spectroscopy.Assistant Professor Tiffany Wolf (Veterinary Population Medicine)Professor Wolf uses MSI resources for metagenomic studies that are part of research into brainworm infection in the Minnesota moose population..

On Wednesday, January 4, 2023, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems.

MSI PI Ognjen Ilic (assistant professor, Mechanical Engineering) is the senior author of a new study that demonstrates using ultrasound waves to move objects with a metamaterial surface.

MSI PI Trinity Hamilton (associate professor, Plant and Microbial Biology) was interviewed recently on Minnesota Public Radio’s (MPR) Climate Cast program about her research into red-pigmented algae that live on snow.

MSI PI Peter Neff (assistant research professor, Soil, Water and Climate) is spending the next few months in Antarctica directing three field projects that seek to understand the evolution and future of Earth’s climate.

On Wednesday, December 7, 2022, MSI staff will perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades to various MSI systems.

A team led by researchers at the University of Minnesota, including MSI PI Patrick Kelly (associate professor, Physics and Astronomy), has published a paper in Nature that describes a red supergiant star, using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and Large Binocular Telescope.

Two MSI PIs are among the interdisciplinary research group that have received a $21M grant from the National Institutes of Health to study vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).

MSI PI Nidhi Kohli (professor, Educational Psychology) and colleagues in the School of Public Health have received a $2.5 million grant for their project, “Training the Long-Term Services and Supports Dementia Care Workforce in Provision of Care to Sexual and Gender Minority Residents.” Professor Simon Rosser (Epidemiology and Community Health) is the project PI and Associate Professor Tetyana Shippee (Health Policy and Manager is co-PI.

Several MSI PIs from the School of Physics and Astronomy and their colleagues and students are constructing two sets of extremely fast telescopes that will allow researchers to get astronomical data much more quickly than current telescopes allow.

MSI PI Cara Santelli (associate professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences) has received the 2022 “Post Tenure” Outstanding Geobiologist Award from the Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division of the Geological Society of America.