Charles M. Calvo of Starkville, research scientist and director of the Digital Research and Imaging Laboratory in the School of Architecture, died Sept. 24, 2000. He was 42.

He was recognized internationally for his research in computer visualization and its application to education.

Calvo established collaborations with the art department, extension service, University Television Center, and other campus units. He also directed research projects in collaboration with the state Department of Economic and Community Development, Millsaps College and other universities, and the U.S. Navy.

Morris W.H. "Bill" Collins of Athens, Ga., founding director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, died Oct. 15, 2000. He was 83.

A native of Athens, Ga., Collins was a graduate of the University of Georgia and earned graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Harvard University.

While at the University of Georgia he served as the first director of the university's Carl Vinson Institute of Government. He worked in various advisory capacities for Georgia Governors Earnest Vandiver, Carl Sanders, and Jimmy Carter. Collins also helped start UGA's Center for Continuing Education and established many of its training programs for legislators, city and county elected officials, managers, attorneys, and tax assessors.

The founding director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, Collins also occupied the John C. Stennis Chair in Political Science.

Collins retired from MSU in 1987.

E. Jerry Vardaman of Starkville, retired professor of archaeology and religion and founding director of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State, died Nov. 18, 2000. He was 73.

Vardaman received a bachelor's degree from Baylor University and doctorates from Baylor and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He did postdoctoral work at Oxford University in England and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

An ordained Baptist minister, Vardaman taught at Southwestern, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Hong Kong Baptist Seminary before coming to Mississippi State.

He excavated numerous biblical sites in the Mideast and authored many books and papers on archaeological subjects. He was a Marine veteran of World War II.