SVSU professors receive prestigious fellowship

May 12, 2026

SVSU professors receive prestigious fellowship

Research projects will focus on public health issues

Two Saginaw Valley State University faculty members have been awarded research fellowships for research projects that promise to improve public health.

Ken Luzynski, assistant professor of biology, and Becca Schlaff, professor of public health, have been announced as the recipients of the Field/Spicer Fellowship in Science and Engineering. This award includes funding of their projects for three years.

Through his project, Mosquito Monitoring in the Mitten, Luzynski's goal is to establish a testing pipeline at SVSU in coordination with local mosquito control commissions and county health departments. This will allow for real-time monitoring of neuroinvasive diseases like West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

Nanopore sequencing is much faster than traditional sequencing. Additionally, nanopore sequencers, like the device Luzynski plans to use, are much smaller and more portable than traditional sequencers, meaning they can be used at SVSU or in the field.

Luzynski said the data he collects will be used to develop a predictive model that forecasts potential outbreaks of neuroinvasive diseases, providing a crucial tool for public health decision-making. Components of this project will be integrated into SVSU's undergraduate curriculum, providing students with hands-on research experience and ensuring a continuous, collaborative data collection effort that will benefit the entire community. He anticipates having a reliable pipeline in place by the end of Summer 2027. The ultimate goal is to establish a longer term monitoring program in conjunction with the mosquito controls and regional health departments.

"I am grateful to receive the fellowship award," Luzynski said. "This fellowship continues his legacy of fostering regional partnerships that benefit the health and well-being of the Saginaw Bay region."

Luzynski joined SVSU in 2022. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, in Vienna, Austria.

Schlaff's project is Prenatal Care Promotion and Congenital Syphilis Public Health Messaging. Using data she has collected from pregnant and postpartum women, Schlaff will make recommendations on culturally and linguistically appropriate communications regarding syphilis and congenital syphilis. She will also submit manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication in scholarly journals.

Schlaff said this work is an important element in efforts to improve maternal and child health outcomes throughout the region.

"I am honored to be selected as a Field-Spicer Fellow," Schlaff said. "This fellowship provides a valuable opportunity to advance my research agenda focused on promoting the importance of prenatal care while developing accessible, evidence-based public health communication materials. Support like this is critical for faculty to engage and mentor students in meaningful research and to translate scholarship into action that improves public health outcomes regionally.

Schlaff served on the faculty of SVSU from 2022 to 2023, returning in 2024. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from SVSU and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
The Field/Spicer Fellowship in Science and Engineering at SVSU was established through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. E. Malcolm Field to promote interdisciplinary work that bridges health sciences, biology, engineering and technology, with a preference for projects focusing on neuroscience.