Points of Pride
Research
Mississippi State is the lead institution for a $3.5 million federal grant to help fund a center of excellence for transportation research. The grant is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation's University Transportation Center program, which works to advance technology and expertise required to meet national needs for the safe, efficient and environmentally sound movement of people and goods.
A biography of pioneering feminist Margaret Fuller, written by an MSU English professor, has earned the Choice Award from the American Library Association. Meg McGravran Murray's "Margaret Fuller: Wandering Pilgrim" received the organization's award for Outstanding Academic Title.
Mississippi State University Libraries has expanded access to critical research materials in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences by more than 4.5 million publications, archives, and collections and one million digital resources by enrolling in the Center for Research Libraries consortium.
Turf grasses licensed by Mississippi State University are on the fields at the Rose Bowl, Petco Park, Kauffman Stadium, and the Home Depot Center, as well as MSU's own Scott Field. The grasses generate about $3 million annually in license revenues for Mississippi State.
USDA designated the university's Mississippi Entomological Museum an Eastern Region Identification Center. It plays an integral role in identifying and controlling insects that pose a major threat to American agriculture.
David Perkes, of MSU's Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, was part of a four-person team receiving the 2011 American Institute of Architecture's prestigious Latrobe Prize. He shared the $100,000 research grant with colleagues at Design Corps; the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Portland State University.
A new program conducted by MSU's Extension Service is looking at ways to stop a pest that kills an estimated 12 million cubic feet of the state's pine forests annually. MSU experts believe preventive measures will better control the southern pine beetle, and they have been working with the U.S. Forest Service to provide landowner education and financial incentives for foresters and loggers.
Mississippi State University cotton breeders in Stoneville are developing lines of cotton that show great potential against the reniform nematode, a pest that caused a loss of about $130 million to the national crop last year.
Mississippi State reached its highest-ever level of giving in Fiscal Year 2011, with $80.3 million in outright private gifts and pledges of future support. The total was a 23 percent increase from the previous year.
The Water Resources Research Institute provides research and outreach to improve water quality, preserve water resources, and protect the water supply. It is a state institute housed at Mississippi State to provide a coordinated research and development program.
The Franklin Furniture Institute, a part of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center, provides business solutions, export assistance, lean manufacturing, workforce training, and testing services for Mississippi's furniture industry.
A Forest and Wildlife Research Center study confirmed the success of a new technique to reduce nutrients in runoff water and protect downstream waters, including the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists tested the effectiveness of weirs, small dams used to collect water runoff from agricultural fields. Results showed they removed contaminants effectively, in combination with vegetation that also absorbs.
Scientists in Mississippi State's Forest and Wildlife Research Center are exploring multiple land use achieved by growing southern pine trees with corn, milo, soybeans, and switchgrass. The studies will evaluate management alternatives that may allow landowners to increase their revenues and improve cash flow.
Scientists in forest products have found a new way to turn wood into highly absorbent charcoal and parts for automobiles. The process takes advantage of nanotechnology, which involves the creation, exploration and manipulation of materials measured in nonometers, or billionths of a meter.
The Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems Extension Office earned the 2010 Award of Excellence in Business Assistance and Entrepreneurship, presented by the national University Economic Development Association. The award recognized the center's contributions to rapid commercialization of Navistar Defense's plant in West Point, Miss.
In 2010, the Social Science Research Center--the oldest university-level research center on campus--marked its 60th anniversary. With an annual $8 million budget that supports about 40 research projects, the center has focused on key areas such as tobacco control, highway safety, and children's health care, among others.
Mississippi State is one of only 108 universities nationwide recognized in 2010 as a "very high research activity university" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. In FY 2010, Missisippi State secured $201 million in external research funding. MSU is the only Mississippi university with the "very high research" designation.
MSU's EcoCAR www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=4901 has consistently placed in the top finalists of a multi-year competition--the NeXt Challenge--sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors and the Canadian government, among others. The competition challenges North American engineering majors to "re-engineer" a GM-donated vehicle to minimize fuel consumption and emissions, while maintaining its utility, safety and performance. The MSU team has twice earned the top place and has finished once in the top 10.
An internationally recognized Mississippi State faculty member in high-voltage research received the university's 2010 Ralph E. Powe Research Excellence Award. Stan Grzybowski is a professor in the Bagley College of Engineering's department of electrical and computer engineering. He also directs the High Voltage Laboratory, the largest such facility at a North American public university.
Stephen Demarais of the Forest and Wildlife Research Center, was named a Fellow by the international Wildlife Society. A certified wildlife biologist, he was honored by the professional organization for his work on white-tailed deer biology and management.
Richard M. Kaminski, a nationally recognized North American waterfowl and wetlands scientist, holds the James C. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation in Mississippi State's College of Forest Resources. The chair conducts research to guide conservation and management of waterfowl habitat and populations.
Correspondence, photographs, books, memorabilia, and other documents related to the military career and presidency of Ulysses S. Grant are housed at Mississippi State. Through an agreement with the Ulysses S. Grant Association, the university's Mitchell Memorial Library is the official host of the Grant papers.
The Charles H. Templeton Sr. Music Museum features 192 self-playing instruments, some 12,000 recordings and more than 22,000 pieces of sheet music. The musical collection of the late Starkville businessman and 1949 MSU graduate is displayed on the fourth floor of Mitchell Memorial Library.Mississippi State holds more than 175 patents, ranging from the technology for acoustical test structures to a vaccine for channel catfish.
