Contact: Susan Lassetter
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State department head will serve as interim dean of the Bagley College of Engineering.
Swalm School of Chemical Engineering director Jason Keith assumed his new role March 1. Associate professor Bill Elmore will serve as interim leader of chemical engineering in Keith's absence.
"We are confident that Dr. Keith will help us maintain the momentum of the Bagley College of Engineering in gaining greater national and international recognition for the great work of our faculty, staff and students," said Jerry Gilbert, MSU provost and executive vice president.
Keith came to Mississippi State in 2011 as the Earnest W. Deavenport Jr. chair and director of chemical engineering. For the past seven months he also has served as the director of the MSU Energy Institute.
"I came to Mississippi State because of the quality of the institution, the faculty and staff, and the facilities available to teach and perform multidisciplinary research," Keith said. "The fact that my family loves college athletics and a small college-town atmosphere in a warm climate helped sell the idea to my family. We love MSU."
Since joining the faculty Keith has been active in developing innovative teaching methods in engineering, which have been honored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He recently began two-year terms as a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority Energy Resource Council and chair of the education division of AIChE.
Prior to joining the Bagley College, Keith spent 11 years on the faculty at Michigan Technological University, being recommended for full professor status shortly before leaving for the Magnolia State. He holds bachelor's and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Akron and the University of Notre Dame, respectively.
For more information about the Bagley College of Engineering, visit www.bagley.msstate.edu.