A computer science class taught by computer science professor Ray Vaughn recently took on a class project that had real-world impact.

Susan Oxford, a graduate student who commutes from Greenville, needed help tracking about 800 employees from around the state. She and her husband own and operate Prime Care Nursing, which provides supplemental staffing for health care facilities statewide.

She enrolled in Vaughn's software engineering class, where a team of students took on the assignment of building the software she needed to match locations, needs, and resources.

Vaughn, who has more than 20 years' experience as a software engineer in industry and government, believes that students learn to deal with customer requirements by becoming involved with real customers.

In addition to the Prime Care project, student teams also worked on developing software for the Mississippi State University Cheese Store, the University Florist, the Office of Research, and the university's Technology Transfer Office.