Meridian, Houma students at MSU gain international recognition

Contact: Robbie Ward

STARKVILLE, Miss.--Two Mississippi State aerospace engineering majors join three others nationwide in receiving the highest student honor of the Hypervelocity Impact Society.

Graduate student Nicholas R. "Nick" Chambers of Meridian and senior Mark W. Dickey of Houma, La., will be honored in September as the HIS's 2007 Alex Charter Scholars. The recognition will take place as part of the Hypervelocity Impact Symposium in Williamsburg, Va.

An international organization, HIS works to advance the science and technology of hypervelocity impact and related technical areas, such as experimental techniques, theoretical and analytical studies, numerical advancements, and material response. Hypervelocity is defined as the "impact regime in which shock effects are important."

As Charter Scholars, Chambers and Dickey will attend the symposium as the society's special guests. They also will receive other recognitions.

Scholars are selected by the society's educational outreach committee on the basis of evaluations provided by the students' academic advisers. While the program specifically targets graduate students, top undergraduate students like Dickey also are permitted to apply.

Chambers, an MSU President's Scholar who received a bachelor's degree in May, is the son of Ronald and Linda Chambers.

Dickey came to MSU from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. [His parents' names are not listed.]

NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact assistant aerospace engineering professor Greg Olson at 662-325-7298 or golsen@ae.msstate.edu.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.