05/31/01
Mississippi State University leads a national team of academic institutions and industry partners that will support the four Department of Defense high-performance computing research centers, two of which are in Mississippi.
The MSU-led team won the record-setting $108 million, eight-year contract in technical competition with other university and industry groups seeking to work with the Defense Department's High Performance Computing Modernization Program. The contract was signed May 25 in Washington, D.C.
Researchers from MSU and partner universities will be based on the campuses and also at three of the four major high-performance computing facilities that serve Defense Department researchers nationwide.
Those centers are the Army Engineering Research and Development Center at Vicksburg, the Naval Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space Center on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center in Dayton, Ohio.
The national university-industry team is headed by Joe Thompson, distinguished professor of aerospace engineering at MSU, and includes researchers from Ohio State, Florida State, and the universities of Illinois, Texas, Tennessee, and California-San Diego. The team also includes the Ohio Supercomputer Center and five minority-serving institutions, including Jackson State.
Industry partners that will subcontract with MSU to help with the project are Computer Sciences Corporation and SAIC.
The contract awarded to MSU is one of the largest in Defense Department history for academic research and "serves notice to the country that Mississippi is a player in high-performance computing," Thompson said.
With two of its four main computing facilities-or Major Shared Resource Centers, as Defense calls them-located at Vicksburg and Stennis Space Center, 40 percent of the department's supercomputing power is located in Mississippi, which ranks third among the states in high-performance computing capacity. Mississippi State's Engineering Research Center is among the nation's 10 most powerful academic supercomputing sites.
"Mississippi State's national leadership role in a program of this significance is huge in terms of visibility for the State of Mississippi," said MSU President Malcolm Portera. "It demonstrates to prospective industry and others that there is technological capacity here that simply isn't found in the states around us. And I am convinced that technological capacity represents a key element in development in the New Economy."
University researchers participating in what is formally known as the Programming Environment and Training activity will work side-by-side with Defense Department scientists in 10 broad computational technology areas and five other technical areas. The MSU-led consortium will provide university expertise in seven of the 10 major computational areas and four of the five technical areas.
Examples of the computational technology areas are climate, weather and ocean modeling and simulation, one of three areas in which the Naval Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space Center has a leadership role, and computational fluid dynamics, one of four areas assigned for leadership to the Army Engineering R&D Center at Vicksburg.
Using supercomputers to simulate the earth's climate has applications in flight safety, search and rescue planning, and submarine warfare, among other areas. In the computational fluid dynamics area, supercomputers are used to model fluid and gas flows around aircraft, missiles, and submarines, for example, or flow in air circulation systems or even the human circulatory system.
The expertise developed over the past 10 years in the university's National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, which focuses on supercomputing applications, made it possible for MSU to assume national leadership in the field, Thompson said.
Bharat Soni, MSU professor of aerospace engineering and director of the Center for Computational Systems in the ERC, leads the largest of the 11 technical areas to be supported by the team, heading the effort in computational fluid dynamics.
"Mississippi State is one of the few universities in the country that could be presumptuous enough even to attempt to put together such an effort or be positioned to manage it," Thompson said. "The purpose of the program is to bring top-level university research talent together to work side by side with Defense scientists and research engineers to increase their productivity. Without top talent, you couldn't possibly win a contract like this."
The two other teams in the final round of competition for the contract were led by corporations, with university partners. One of those teams will work with the fourth major high-performance computing center, the Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Md.
Among the organizations making up the MSU team are two of the three supercomputing centers supported by the National Science Foundation-the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois and the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California-San Diego. Two of the 11 technical area leaders are members of the National Academy of Engineering.
"The fact that such major players as these in high-performance computing have the confidence to bet their success on Mississippi State's leadership is significant," Thompson said. The new contract, funded at approximately $13.5 million a year, will enhance the state's role in high-performance computing and give Mississippi State an extra boost toward its goal of ranking among the nation's top 50 public universities in research expenditures within three years.
MSU currently ranks 58th, based on 1998-99 expenditures of about $111 million. Expenditures for 1999-2000 were approximately $132 million and expenditures for the year ending on June 30 are estimated at $145 million.
Minority-serving institutions on the MSU-led team, in addition to Jackson State, are Clark Atlanta University, Florida International, the University of Hawaii, and Central State University in Ohio. Jackson State Vice President for Information Technology Willie Brown coordinates JSU's involvement in the project.
The new initiative within the High Performance Computing Modernization Program is a major expansion of an activity that began in 1995 when the four Major Shared Resource Centers were designated.
Since then, Mississippi State has been part of a team providing research support on a smaller scale to the main high-performance computing facilities at Vicksburg, the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center in Ohio, and the Army Research Laboratory in Maryland. A different team currently works with the Naval Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space Center.
Official MSU link to the complete story....
A solid foundation in their chosen profession and arching ingenuity combined to help Mississippi State civil engineering students finish atop the 2001 National Timber Bridge Design Competition.
The university's student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers recently received the event's Best Overall Design Award. The nine-member senior team also took second place in the best deck performance and most aesthetic design categories.
In addition to awards, the chapter received $2,350 for its treasury.
Students from 19 universities participated in the competition sponsored by the United States Forest Service, with additional support from the Southern Pine Council of the Southern Forest Products Association, Unit Structures LLC and Willamette Industries.
Brookhaven-based Southwest Mississippi Resources Conservation and Development Inc. coordinates the annual event. After a team designs, constructs and tests its creation on campus, all documentation is forwarded via the Internet for final review by a panel of judges.
The winning MSU design features a one-by-four inch tongue-and-groove deck supported by seven laminated longitudinal stringers, all of which is made of treated Southern yellow pine. Four steel cable assemblies are used to limit bridge tension.
"The use of the cables results in a lightweight structure that is economical to build," said civil engineering professor Ralph Sinno, chapter adviser and project mentor. "A cost-effective design is important because an objective of the competition is to promote interest in wood as a bridge construction material."
Other 2001 competition winners include the U.S. Military Academy, best deck performance and most practical design; and Virginia Tech University, most innovative design.
Sinno said the winning MSU project would be put to good use. "As we've done in the past, the bridge will be donated to an area school or municipality," he explained.
The MSU bridge builders include (by hometown):
ACKERMAN--Sheila C. Sanford, who graduated from Nanih Waiya High School in 1997 and East Central Community College in 1999.
BAY ST. LOUIS--Jason P. Chiniche, a 1997 St. Stanislaus High School graduate and the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Chiniche.
BROOKHAVEN--Ashley E. Parker, a 1997 Brookhaven High School graduate and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Parker.
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.--Tiffany M. Hill, a 1995 Northeast High School graduate and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hill.
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala.--Mary K. "Kate" Langley, a 1997 Guntersville High School graduate and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Langley.
MERIDIAN--William R. "Randy" Wedgeworth, a 1990 Northeast Lauderdale High School graduate and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Glynn Wedgeworth.
OCEAN SPRINGS--John M. Ludlow, a 1974 St. Stanislaus High School graduate and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Ludlow.
PURVIS--Hunter Andrews, a 1997 Purvis High School graduate and the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Andrews and Martha Toland.
TUPELO--John R. Heard, a 1994 Tupelo High School graduate and the son of Susan Heard.
Official MSU link to the complete story....
05/16/01
Robin L. Annison and Christopher N. Thomas will begin work in September with the Public Health Prevention Service, a part of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both students are completing master's degrees in physical education, with emphasis in health promotion and health education.
An arm of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, CDC is the lead government agency for protecting the health and safety of citizens at home and abroad.
With starting pay and adjustments currently totaling some $36,000 a year, the PHPS program provides three years of on-the-job experiences in designing, implementing and evaluating prevention programs. Its goal is to help expand the national public health infrastructure by developing future leaders at the local, state and national levels.
PHPS annually selects some two dozen participants from a final screened applicant group of about 70 new master's degree graduates. Approximately 200 usually apply.
Upon completion of training, Annison, Thomas and their PHPS colleagues are expected to become highly sought candidates for positions in public health agencies, as well as voluntary, community and managed-care organizations.
Official MSU link to the complete story....
For the fifth consecutive year, Mississippi State's business education honor society is among the best in the nation.
Ranked in the top 10 for the past four years, the university's chapter of Pi Omega Pi recently finished fourth in 2001 competition held in Atlanta, Ga. The 12-person MSU chapter finished eighth last year.
President Gina Tindall of Myrtle, vice president Tonya K. Redwine of Mooreville and historian Robert W. Dunnam of Blue Mountain, all seniors in the department of technology and education, were on hand to accept the chapter honor.
The MSU chapter was chartered in 1939 and is among the oldest honor societies on campus.
"Being a member of Pi Omega Pi is the highest honor an undergraduate student in business teacher education can achieve," she added.
Official MSU link to the complete story....
05/15/01
If you think that you have to go to UM to be accepted to UM's medical school then think again, because most years MSU puts more students in UM's medical school than UM does. Did you also know that MSU's Biological Engineering program students have a 90% acceptance rate to medical school?
Graphic design majors at Mississippi State University again hold top regional honors in the annual Student Talent Advertising Recognition awards program.
Seniors Wade Acuff of Hollandale and Carolyn Horne of Grenada were rated the best in separate graphic design categories of the 2001 STAR District 7 Convention held recently in Baton Rouge, La. Lauren McClure of Collierville, Tenn., was selected to receive the convention's $1,500 Jan Gardner Memorial Scholarship.
Acuff won the Best of Show Award for a poster titled "Silly Putty"; Horne, the Best Concept Award for a single medium campaign titled "Track and Field."
Acuff, Horne and McClure also were honored with Gold Addy awards. Additionally, Acuff and McClure received Silver Addys.
Sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, the design competition drew more than 200 entries from college and university students in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The Gardner Scholarship honors the former District 7 governor.
In addition to winning two of the event's top four awards and the Gardner Scholarship, MSU students brought home 26 of the 60 total awards given this year.
"This is the sixth straight year in which our students have been at the top of AAF-sponsored shows," said art department head Brent Funderburk. "That's why the efforts of our students and faculty consistently are recognized by their peers at institutions of higher learning from Georgia to Louisiana."
Established in 1968, the MSU art department has grown to become the largest studio program in the state. Graphic design faculty members include Craig Concannon, Anne Hanger, Wade Lough, and Jamie Mixon.
Official MSU link to the complete story....
Fourteen high school seniors from three states are selections for Mississippi State's top academic scholarships of the 2001-02 school year.
Included are eight students receiving Ottilie Schillig Leadership Scholarships and six who are the first to receive Presidential Endowed Scholarships.
The Schillig group brings together six residents from Mississippi and one each from Alabama and Kentucky. They include Laurie Carlisle of Owensboro, Ky., Sanquanett Jones of Natchez, Jennifer Hermetz of Meridian, Vernon McFarland of Pearl, Jordan Ray of Pontotoc, Angela Spence of Brandon, Seth Stephenson of Madison, and Sarah Tooley of Red Bay, Ala.
All Mississippians, the inaugural Presidential Scholars group includes Alan Boyle of Starkville, Kyle Frazier of Madison, Emily Hicks of Tupelo, Shawn Sanders of Jackson, Adam Sessums of Morton, and Sean Walters of Long Beach.
Both the Schillig and the Presidential scholarships provide a total of $32,000 over four years, which approximates the cost of tuition and fees, room and board, and books for four years of study on the Starkville campus.
Now in its 14th year, the Schillig scholarship program was established in 1986 through a donation from the Ottilie Schillig Trust of Port Gibson.
Official MSU link to the complete story....
Two Mississippi State University graduate students who received degrees Saturday [May 12] are selections for the nation's leading government internship program.
Roger D. Crowder Jr. of Louisville and Musette C. Edwards of Starkville are among some 550 master's- and doctoral-degree graduates from throughout the United States recently named to the two-year Presidential Management Intern Program.
Both are receiving master's degrees in public policy and administration from the department of political science. Their selection raises to nine the number of MSU political science graduates selected for the PMI program over the past five years.
"The PMI selection process is very competitive and the positions are highly sought,"said Doug Feig, political science department head. "That's why the program is considered to be the most prestigious method by which recent graduates can enter federal service."
Both will begin their work assignments in late summer.
Established by President Carter in 1977 and reconstituted by President Reagan in 1982, the program provides interns with a starting salary of approximately $35,000 and the likelihood of permanent federal employment upon completion of their work period.
Official MSU link to the complete story....