Contact: Bob Ratliff
A Mississippi State computer scientist is among 40 young professionals being honored by the Mississippi Business Journal.
Associate professor Anthony Skjellum is a selection for the publication's 2002 "Top 40 Under 40" group of honorees. In addition to his teaching and research duties at MSU, Skjellum is president and chief executive officer of MPI Software Technology Inc., a company he founded in 1996.
The Jackson-based journal annually compiles a list of the state's leading young professionals on the basis of leadership and business skills, community involvement and dedication to economic progress.
Located in downtown Starkville, MSTI manufactures computer software that enables customers to boost computing power by linking clusters of desktop computers, servers and embedded processors to work together on the same applications. MPI is an acronym for message-passing interface.
During 2001, an MSTI "supercluster" elevated the status of Mississippi State's Engineering Research Center to the 13th most powerful computing system at a United States university and 158th most powerful system in the world.
The company currently employs a full-time staff of more than 20, most MSU graduates. Customers include businesses and research laboratories throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada, Europe, Australia, and other overseas locations.
Skjellum holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the California Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty in 1993.