University selected international graphics training site

The new Center for Visual Creations is housed at the university's National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center.

Establishment of the center is a "singular opportunity for Mississippi," said Dr. Joe Thompson, director of the Engineering Research Center. "It will give the state national exposure as industry representatives come to Starkville to be trained in using high-end computer software.

Mississippi State students at the center may work through cooperative arrangements with business and industry while they study.

"All of this is possible because of our top-level computer graphics equipment," Thompson said. "No art department or architecture school in the country can afford such an investment. But these academic areas have worked closely with the ERC and the facilities have been made available to their students."

The concept of a training center was initiated by Silicon Graphics to provide an integrated solution to computer software issues in the fields of video, publication, and presentation media graphics.

Established in 1990, the NSF Engineering Research Center is one of 18 in the nation. Work at the ERC involves researchers from engineering, mathematics, physics, computer science, art, and architecture.

Using high-performance Silicon Graphics workstations and a variety of sophisticated software, the ERC has developed specialties in computer animations, industrial design, interactive dataware, scientific visualization and virtual environments, and computer applications for art and architecture.