Maroon MEMO: Employee News (Mississippi State University)

President Mark E. Keenum speaks during a Black Alumni Weekend luncheon at the Scoreboard Club in Davis Wade Stadium on Feb. 18. Held Feb. 17-20, the weekend was a collaborative effort led by the BAW22 Executive Planning Committee in conjunction with the Black Alumni Advisory Council and the MSU Alumni Association. This year’s theme was “50 Years of Athletic Inclusion” and honored the legacy upheld by African-American student athletes at Mississippi State since Frank Dowsing Jr. and Robert Bell donned the Maroon and White some five decades ago. Dowsing and Bell made history when they joined the Bulldog football team in 1969, becoming the university’s first Black student athletes and pioneering a new era in MSU athletics. BAW22 also included a variety of other educational and social activities designed to increase alumni involvement and raise support for student scholarships. PHOTO: Megan Bean | Public Affairs

To using AI to research cotton contamination
A Mississippi State University agricultural and biological engineering professor is using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and separate plastic contaminants from cotton. Filip To, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, is researching technology that will help produce contaminant-free cotton using imaging with AI. Cotton contamination, primarily from plastic, is a world-wide problem that can have a large economic impact, especially for cotton producers. “The contamination can be traced from textile factories all the way back to the farmer, and then the farmer gets discounted because of it,” To said. “It’s significant from the grower point of view and it really changes their profitability, and it can hurt their reputations."

ORED launches seed funding and internship programs to grow research success
The Office Research and Economic Development is pleased to announce the launch of two new pilot programs designed to grow research success at Mississippi State University: the Advancing Collaborative Research Program (ACR) and the Faculty Leadership Internship Program (FLIP). Consistent with ORED goals to spur interdisciplinary research and establish new partnerships within and beyond the institution, ACR is meant to encourage both internal and external collaborations; enable new teams and/or new lines of research; and advance high-potential, high-impact activities to the next level. As part of developing talent and leadership within the MSU research enterprise, ORED is piloting the FLIP -- a six-month program designed to provide faculty with an in-depth, first-hand experience that broadens and deepens understanding of how research administration operates.

Inaugural Research Week coming up in April
Mississippi State will showcase the innovative research taking place across campus with the inaugural annual Research Week April 11-14. Sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development, Research Week will celebrate the MSU faculty, staff, and students advancing their fields and making an impact in Mississippi and across the globe. Research Week will foster knowledge of the wide variety of scholarly and creative activities happening on our campus and promote awareness of the many resources that support research at MSU. Units and organizations across campus are encouraged to host events in conjunction with Research Week. To submit an event or lean more information about Research Week, visit www.research.msstate.edu/initiatives/research-week.

Smoke-free policy enhances healthy environment
Mississippi State University is a smoke-free campus. Official policy prohibits the use of any combustible or vapor products anywhere on campus property including university buildings, university grounds, university vehicles, parking areas and sidewalks. The smoke-free campus policy is part of the university's commitment to creating a healthy environment for all members of the campus community. Use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookah or other similar devices are prohibited by this policy. The complete policy is available at www.policies.msstate.edu/policy/91301.

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Hunter and Welborn receive IHL Diversity and Inclusion Awards
Two Mississippi State faculty members are the recipients of this year’s Diversity and Inclusion Awards, given annually during Black History Month by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. The IHL Board of Trustees is honoring 10 employees from the state’s four-year public universities, including MSU faculty members Christopher Hunter, assistant professor in the School of Architecture, and Rachel Welborn, associate director of the Southern Rural Development Center, for advancing diversity, understanding and respect. Supporting student success and diversity within the School of Architecture, Hunter is faculty advisor for the campus’s National Organization of Minority Architecture Students and serves as a mentor for the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center’s BRIDGES program. In her work, Welborn has helped identify pressing rural development concerns and facilitated responses in the state, region and nation on critical issues, including poverty, disasters, workforce development, racial reconciliation and internet availability.

Owen named director of career and technical partnerships
After working for the university for two decades, a Mississippi State employee has been promoted to the newly created director of career and technical partnerships position in the MSU Registrar’s Office. Sean Owen, previously assistant director of research development and strategic initiatives at MSU’s Research and Curriculum Unit, recently began his new assignment to help develop and grow partnerships with community colleges, business/industry and the military. He specifically has been tasked with raising awareness of the university’s Bachelor of Applied Science program, which allows students to apply existing technical credits toward a bachelor’s degree. The BAS program allows students who have completed their associate of applied science degree to transfer up to 60 hours of credits to MSU.

Department of Biological Sciences nets record high federal competitive funding
Mississippi State’s Department of Biological Sciences is managing the largest amount of competitive federal funding at any time in its history and celebrating multiple major awards which are elevating research productivity and prestige. During the current fiscal year, three departmental faculty members have garnered more than $2 million from the National Science Foundation, including two prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program awards. Assistant Professors Matthew J. Ballinger and Amy L. Dapper secured the CAREER awards totaling more than $1.5 million, while Assistant Professor Ying Wang received more than $500,000 for a study on RNA-based biotechnology. “I couldn’t be prouder of the faculty and staff and their efforts to continue moving the department forward even in the midst of the challenges everyone has faced in the last couple of years,” said Angus L. Dawe, Dr. Donald L. Hall Professor of Biology and department head.

MSU shifts to mask-optional status campus-wide