Contact: Jim Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State will be host next month to officials from another of the world's leading research facilities.
During a Feb. 10 visit to the university, faculty, staff, administrators, and students will be meeting with leaders and researchers of California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to explore partnership and funding possibilities, among other topics.
Though not a public event, local industry and government representatives are being invited to participate in the daylong event. Free online registration may be completed at www.tfaforms.com/314074.
Last fall, Mississippi State hosted a similar visit by researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary science and engineering research center located near Chicago, Ill.
Similar to the fall event, the February visit is designed to:
--Inform MSU researchers about Lawrence Berkeley's resources, facilities and proposal process;
--Develop potential proposals with Lawrence Berkeley personnel; and,
--Identify new and discuss existing research collaborations between the 136-year-old land-grant university and the multidisciplinary science and engineering research center founded in 1931.
"Lawrence Berkeley has infrastructure and expertise that coincide with Mississippi State's research strategic plan and programs," said Jason Keith, MSU Energy Institute director.
Keith, who is coordinating the visit, said, "These programs include renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, computational science, nanomaterials and materials science, among other areas where MSU researchers have an interest."
In addition to heading the Energy Institute, Keith directs MSU's Swalm School of Chemical Engineering, where he holds the Earnest W. Deavenport Jr. Endowed Chair.
Located on a 200-acre site near the University of California, Berkeley campus, the Berkeley Lab is part of a national research system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. It is charged with conducting unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines.
The lab was founded by Ernest O. Lawrence, a UC Berkeley physicist and 1939 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics. In fiscal year 2011, its annual budget topped $800 million. For more, see www.lbl.gov.
"Argonne's visit in the fall was very productive, and we anticipate a similar experience with Berkeley Lab in a few weeks," said David Shaw, MSU's vice president for research and economic development.
Shaw said the university is "very pleased that we have another opportunity to broaden a relationship with a top-tier federal research lab."