Contact: Bob Ratliff
For the second consecutive year, a Mississippi State computer science class is being honored by the United States Navy.
Eight members of associate professor Rayford Vaughn's software engineering class recently received certificates from the Naval Oceanographic Office at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County. At the Navy's request, they took on a project to make information contained in a multitude of databases easier to access.
"We asked the students to help us tie the databases together to make the information they contain more readily available," said Jim Cry, chief information officer for the Stennis Naval Oceanographic Office. "We treated the class like a contractor working for the Navy."
According to Vaughn, providing the students with a taste of what it's like working in a real-world situation is the annual project's major objective.
"We told them, 'You are the company, make this work' and they did," Vaughn said. "I wouldn't be afraid to take this group of students and form a real company."
Last year, Vaughn's students reviewed Stennis' huge computer files containing naval information on the world's oceans. The 2002 spring semester project was similar, but was expanded to provide more of a real-world experience by involving College of Business and Industry students majoring in management and information systems.
In addition to course grades and certificates, the project yielded an immediate benefit for at least one class member--Anthony R. Flowers of Pearl. A graduating software engineering major, he received a job offer from the Naval Oceanographic Office and begins work at Stennis this summer.
Of the seven other class members, five also received bachelor's degrees May 11. The remaining two are a continuing senior and a continuing graduate student.
The other graduates include management and information system majors Nathan L. Clevenger of Caledonia, Joseph C. Mauldin of Columbus, Elizabeth D. Rester of Brandon; and software engineering majors and twin brothers Shane L. and Shea L. Fox of Meridian.
Senior software engineering major Russell W. Allbritain of Pascagoula and Starkville resident Linnea Hall, a graduate student in management and information systems, rounded out the class roll.