Featured MSU Engaged Scholars
- Ángel Abuelo, D.V.M., Ph.D.
- Associate Professor, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine
- Dairy Extension Veterinarian, MSU Extension, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
When MSU veterinary medicine associate professor Ángel Abuelo and his students toured Sand Creek Dairy in Hastings, he popped into Ethan Haywood’s office. They struck up a conversation.
“That’s how we started talking about doing some research projects,” said Haywood, who runs the farm with his brother, father, and grandfather—all MSU graduates.
“We have really been trying to increase our focus on calf and young stock health,” he said. “(Ángel) was interested in coming in and trying to evaluate that further, and we were really excited.”
That’s just one example of the way real-world issues facing dairy farmers inform Abuelo’s research on dairy cattle health. In addition to his teaching appointment, Abuelo serves as MSU’s Extension veterinarian and runs the Abuelo Lab. For Abuelo, these roles are often intertwined, with his contact with veterinarians and farmers influencing his research and teaching and vice versa ...
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- Jae Puckett, Ph.D.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
- College of Social Science
It’s Monday morning. Your alarm clock is set for 6:30, allowing enough time to double check your carry-on and enjoy a cup of coffee before heading to the airport to catch a 9:30 a.m. flight. Suddenly your subconscious jolts you awake only to come face-to-face with your clock reading 8:20 a.m., and the realization hits: You set your alarm for 6:30 p.m., not a.m. Thus begins the mad dash, leaving the thought of a leisurely cup of coffee in a whirlwind of dust you created while scrambling to get out the door.
You get to the airport with 45 minutes to spare, show the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) agent your ticket and ID, and are waved through to your gate. You made it.
However, if you’re a transgender or gender diverse (TGD) person, interactions with TSA can add a traumatic layer to an already stressful morning. When interacting with the TSA and using your ID, the information about someone’s gender, legal name, or gender marker is sometimes used to target TGD people. This is just one of many examples of ...
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- Jonathan Choti, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures
- College of Arts and Letters
Having grown up in rural Kenya, Jonathan Choti understands the culture and way of life of the people of East Africa. As an associate professor, he imparts this knowledge to his students by teaching Swahili, along with courses focusing on African cultures, languages, and literature.
Each summer since 2015, he has led a study-abroad program where students from a variety of academic backgrounds—such as advertising, engineering, French, and history—live and learn with and from the people of Naitolia, northern Tanzania.
“Education is much more than the formulas we teach. It’s much more than the theories we teach,” said Choti, who sees the study-abroad program as an extension of his academic interests in African languages and cultures. “Education is much more about enabling all the people involved in our educational activities to be successful. Students and faculty from different backgrounds that work in this community can come together and engage with and help this community.”...
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