HASTINGS, Minn. — Greg Brick coughed years of cave dust from his lungs, his breath condensing in the cold winter morning.

All Vice President for Research Tim Mulcahy can do is watch, wait and hope for good news. With time running out for Congress and President Barack Obama to reach a compromise before looming automatic tax increases and spending cuts send the federal budget over a fiscal cliff, Mulcahy says the University of Minnesota’s research budget…

When Mark Koepp started farming in the 1980s, he joined 16,000 other pig farmers in Minnesota. Today, about a quarter are left. Fewer people are staying on the family farm, and the farms are getting bigger. Technology and improved methods have made crop yields skyrocket. But some things never change. Farmers can always count on…

Since Eric Kaler began his presidency at the University of Minnesota in 2011, all but four administrators on his 18-person senior leadership team have left their old posts. It’s an unspoken rule in higher education that when a new president comes in, key administrators offer their resignation so the new leader has the opportunity to…

Rachel Levine is torn. In a few years, she’ll receive her doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and face the same decision as tens of thousands of science, technology, engineering and math graduate students across the nation: industry or academia? As a professor, Levine would be able to conduct research she cares…