Contact: Phil Hearn
Check presentation participants included (l-r) Col. Richard Armstrong, executive director of the MSU Foundation George Smith, Mississippi chapter president of the Society of Plastic Engineers SPE chapter educational chairman Jim Hemphill A. Wayne Bennett, dean of the Bagley College of Engineering and Hank Moseley, representing the district office of Congressman Chip Pickering. (Russ Houston)
Mississippi State engineering students, particularly those with a special interest in plastics, will benefit from a $25,000 check presented to the university by professionals who work in the field.
Representatives of the Mississippi Chapter, Society of Plastic Engineers made the gift to the Bagley College of Engineering and the MSU Foundation during its February meeting on campus at the Swalm School of Chemical Engineering. The Swalm school is a major unit of the engineering college.
The organization's scholarship endowment is designated specifically for engineering majors from Mississippi--and especially those with a preference for careers in plastics.
Chapter president George Smith and educational chairman James A. Hemphill presented the check to engineering dean Wayne Bennett and foundation executive director Richard Armstrong.
Also during the meeting, the SPE chapter awarded scholarships to two MSU chemical engineering majors on the basis of essays they had written. Receiving $500 awards were senior Trent W. Jeffreys of Tuscumbia, Ala., and doctoral student Mitra Yoonessi of Steens.
Jeffreys and Yoonessi were among 14 MSU undergraduate and graduate students in chemical engineering, chemistry, biological engineering, and mechanical engineering who presented research reports in a competitive challenge sponsored by the chapter.
The SPE is an international professional organization representing scientists and engineers engaged in the development, conversion and application of plastics. University and community college scholarship support is one of its primary missions.
Hossein Toghiani, an associate professor of chemical engineering, serves as faculty adviser for MSU's student SPE chapter of about 20 members.
TUSCUMBIA EDITOR: Jeffreys is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lanny Jeffreys.
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Parent information on Yoonessi is not available.