Contact: Bob Ratliff
Some of the people who turn ideas into reality will be in the spotlight during National Engineering Week activities Feb. 21-26 at Mississippi State University.
The campus fete is part of an annual coast-to-coast tribute to the men and women who plan, design and direct the manufacture or construction of nearly every element of modern life.
"Engineers are responsible for everything from microchips to bridges to airplanes," said Dean A. Wayne Bennett. "We want to take this time to recognize engineers on our campus and to inform the public of the educational opportunities and research work at Mississippi State."
The 50th anniversary celebration of the College of Engineering's Raspet Flight Laboratory will highlight the week's activities. Established in 1948 under the direction of the late August Raspet, the facility at Starkville's Bryan Field is considered the largest and best-equipped university-based flight research operation in the United States.
The flight lab will hold an open house the morning of the 23rd. Two special programs will follow: a noon luncheon featuring a keynote address by Bruce Holmes and a 6 p.m. dinner concluding with remarks by Rear Adm. Paul G. Gaffney II. Holmes directs the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments Program at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Gaffney is the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Research and Director, Navy Test and Evaluation and Technology.
Tours of the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Center and the Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory will be given during the afternoons of Feb. 24 and 25. Both are located in the Mississippi Research and Technology Park adjacent to campus.
The department of electrical and computer engineering also will hold an open house during the afternoon of the 25th at its internationally recognized High Voltage Laboratory in Simrall Hall.
Bennett said the MSU celebration is not just for engineers. The general public-especially high school groups-are being invited to take part in the various tours.
"A highpoint of the tours will be the Engineering Research Center's new COVE, a virtual environment made possible by the latest in computer-generated technology that is the only one of its kind in the Southeast," Bennett said.
Other featured activities during engineering week include presentations by:
--Macon native Earnest Deavenport, chairman and chief executive officer at Eastman Chemical Co. A 1960 MSU chemical engineering graduate, he is honorary chair of 1999 National Engineers Week on campus.
--Roy Estes, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Stennis Space Center in Hancock County;
--Daniel S. Goldin, NASA executive director;
--George Lea, former National Science Foundation program director for engineering, education and centers; and
--Paul McCready, a National Academy of Science member.
Student engineering societies will have booths in the Colvard Union throughout the week. Mitchell Memorial Library also will feature engineering displays and videos.
For more information on MSU Engineering Week, telephone Teresa Sappington at (601) 325-1360 or access the College of Engineering website at http://www.de.msstate.edu.