Contact: Bob Ratliff
College of Engineering faculty and students at Mississippi State are joining their academic and professional colleagues in other states Feb. 19-23 for observance of National Engineers Week.
Activities at the Starkville university will range from presentations by nationally recognized leaders in the field to a series of competitive student events.
"'Turning Ideas into Reality' is the national theme of the celebration," said Dean of Engineering Wayne Bennett. "At MSU, we are focusing on how ideas become reality through research."
On the 19th, some students will showcase their research projects in a competitive display on the third floor of Mitchell Memorial Library. From 1-3 p.m., they and others will take part in the Engineering Olympics on the Drill Field.
Also on the 19th, the college's Dave Swalm School of Chemical Engineering will announce a major endowed professorship at a 3 p.m. ceremony in the Eastman Auditorium of the Swalm Building.
Bruce M. Kramer of the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va., will be speaker for a program on the 20th. Director of NSF's design, manufacture and industrial innovation division, he also is co-founder of Zoom Telephonics Inc., a leading national producer of computer modems. In his remarks, Kramer will examine the economic development impact of MSU's NSF Engineering Research Center, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
On the 22nd, the College of Engineering will recognize 10 outstanding alumni at an evening banquet in the Leo Seal M-Club. Earlier in the day, engineering student organizations will sponsor a cookout on the Drill Field.
On the 23rd, a rally for MSU and area high school students in Simrall Hall auditorium will feature an address by Tulane University mechanical engineer Calvin Mackie. In addition to leading Channel ZerO [cq], an educational and motivational consulting company he co-founded, he writes a motivational column for the Black Collegian Magazine titled "Think About It!"
Also that day, the college will sponsor a luncheon at the Swalm Building for community college students and provide tours of the virtual reality room at the Engineering Research Center in the Mississippi Research and Technology Park adjacent to campus.
Other activities during the week will include a game of Engineering Jeopardy on the 20th in the Colvard Union. On the 21st, a breakfast honoring women in engineering will be held in the Union ballroom, while an entrepreneurship idea fair will be held in Swalm's Eastman Auditorium.
For complete information on National Engineers Week at MSU, telephone (662) 325-7183.