Contact: Bob Ratliff
A public seminar on specialized computer software production will take place June 5 and 8 at Mississippi State University's National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center.
Titled "Flexible Software Product Development," the program will be led by MSU alumnus Vess L. Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Omniview Design Inc., a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based software manufacturer.
Johnson is a former Aberdeen resident and 1977 graduate of Oak Hill Academy in West Point.
Supported by a grant from the Hearin Foundation of Jackson, the MSU program is free to all. The two-hour presentations begin at 9 a.m. each day.
"A large number of high-tech startup companies with good software products fail each year," said Ray Vaughn, the ERC's manager of industrial relations. "Mr. Johnson will discuss how these companies can position themselves to avoid some of the pitfalls in the high-tech industry through good business management."
Johnson holds bachelor's degrees in mathematics and philosophy and a master's in computer science, all from the Starkville institution. In addition to leading Omniview, he serves on the board of advisers for the Carnegie-Mellon University Technology Center and the Pennsylvania Information Technology Alliance.
The Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority and Starkville Chamber of Commerce are joining the ERC as seminar co-hosts.
The research center is located north of campus in the Mississippi Research and Technology Park on U.S. Highway 82.
For additional information, contact Vaughn at (601) 325-8814 or by e-mail at vaughn@erc.msstate.edu.