Contact: Heath Shackleford
Thanks to resources provided by a Mississippi State University research center, Gulf Coast area college students are getting an exposure--and a good bit more--to the field of graphic technology.
ImageIs is the name of a multimedia cooperative project currently involving students at the University of Southern Mississippi, University of South Alabama, William Carey College, and the University of New Orleans.
Thanks to the Center for Air Sea Technology, they are becoming digital entrepreneurs while they learn. Off-site opportunities for Mississippi State students are planned for the future by the research operation, located at the John C. Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis.
The project allows the students to offer to local businesses such services as web page design, technology-based posters, logos and convention backdrops. Presently, clients include Celtic Marine International Shipping Corp. and the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology.
CAST Director Jim Corbin said ImageIs, born two years ago as an internship in graphics design, is expected to become a self-standing multimedia corporation and a national model. With the exception of a small permanent staff, the operation will be student-managed and -run.
"Through this program, students have access to new and advanced technology that isn't always possible in the classroom," he said. "ImageIs enhances students' abilities to find work after graduation by giving them an understanding of what it's like to be in the work force."
As the project develops further, participants from business, accounting, communications and computer science also are expected to become involved, he added.
Funds generated by the corporation will support scholarships and endowments. Any additional funds will help purchase technical equipment for the development of interactive websites at K-12 schools around the state.
Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) called the project "an excellent opportunity to increase employment opportunities for students right here at home.
"In addition to hands-on training in technology, these students are helping Mississippi businesses and industries in the process," the Fifth District congressman said after attending a recent project advisory board meeting.