Innovative uses of technology have earned two Mississippi State University faculty members $1,000 awards from the Phil Hardin Foundation.
Eight additional projects at Mississippi State each earned $250 in competition funded by a grant to the Institutions of Higher Learning from the Meridian philanthropic foundation. Winners were named for each of the state's eight university campuses.
R. Dan Brook, professor of technology and education, and Wallace E. Killcreas, professor of agricultural economics, earned top prizes on the Starkville campus.
Brook was recognized for leadership in developing the first fiber-optic interactive network in Mississippi. The educational network now includes 55 electronic classrooms in high schools, 20 electronic classrooms at Mississippi community colleges, 16 electronic classrooms at universities, and six economic and community development sites.
He was cited for expanding educational opportunities for teachers and students, including establishing an electronic link with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Brook and Mississippi State helped establish the pilot project last year.
Killcreas earned the top prize in the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine for developing production management software for fish farmers. He began the research nearly 20 years ago, and first released the software--named FISHY--in 1981.
The software was among the first of its kind developed for personal computers. Killcreas has updated it five times since its introduction, most recently rewriting it to use a new database management language. FISHY has more than 300 users around the world.
Projects receiving $250 Hardin Foundation awards were:
Larry S. Anderson, technology and education. Anderson was recognized for expanding the Internet reach of his classes by adopting CU-SeeMe desktop videoconferencing that allows experts to "visit" his students from locations as remote as Australia.
Charles M. Calvo, School of Architecture. Calvo has used visualization technologies to allow Internet delivery of a virtual museum to K-12 school children. Working with the BioVisualization Laboratory at the Smithsonian Institution, he and his students have developed a prototype known as "Digital Darwins."
David N. Hutto, University Television Center. Mississippi State's television center helped bring North Mississippi middle school students a direct link to NASA scientists flying above earth in the stratosphere. The center provided a link that allowed Booneville Middle School to be one of only two participating in a program transmitted by PBS nationally.
David Banks, computer science, and John Foley, physics and astronomy. Banks and Foley have collaborated in designing three-dimensional software to support the teaching of optics to undergraduate physics students. Called The Optics Project (TOP), it is among the first computer-based instructional tools to use interactive 3-D web-based content for instruction.
Winning $250 in the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine:
Freddie Rasberry, horticulture specialist, Cooperative Extension Service. Rasberry created the Mississippi Lawns and Gardens site on the World Wide Web. The searchable site provides information on a wide variety of topics and allows online interaction with experts.
Ned Browning, print media leader, agricultural communications. Browning had led efforts in his department to make information produced by the division available on the World Wide Web. News releases, technical publications and other resources are available to Internet users.
Danny Gardner, electronic media leader, agricultural communications. With support from a USDA grant, Gardner helped design and develop World Wide Web pages for 10 county extension offices and five agricultural commodities. Every extension office is to have a web page by the end of the year.
Jim Steil, geographic information system program assistant, Cooperative Extension Service. Steil has used GIS technology to make information available in cartographic form to decision makers. One project involved developing maps delineating characteristics of the Mid-Delta Empowerment Zone in six Mississippi counties. Steil improved a map to include schools, zip codes and other information needed to make decisions about eligibility for millions of dollars in federal funds.
Nearly 40 entries were evaluated in the competition by Mississippi State's Institutional Technology Oversight Committee, designated to review nominations and make the awards.