December 2018
Season's greetings from the Office of Research and Economic Development
Season's greetings from the Office of Research and Economic Development. We find ourselves at the end of another semester at Mississippi State, but before it draws to a close, please let me share an update with you.
David Shaw is vice president for research and economic development at Mississippi State University.
NSF survey: MSU again the highest-ranked research university in state
In late November, we were very pleased to see that Mississippi State remains the highest-ranked research university in the state by a wide margin, according to the new NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey for Fiscal Year 2017. Overall, we're ranked 94th nationally, with nearly $241 million in R&D expenditures -- accounting for more than half of all expenditures by Mississippi institutions. We also have the largest total number of research personnel, including more than 600 principal investigators. For the sixth consecutive year, we lead the Southeastern Conference in social sciences and are ranked 17th nationally with $34.6 million in expenditures. At $109 million, our expenditures in agricultural sciences and natural resources and conservation place us at No. 9 nationally. For other highlights from the survey, please visit https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2018/12/msu-remains-highest-ranked-research-university-mississippi-according-latest.
Reminder: Research proposals and the winter break holidays
As I mentioned in last month's letter, please remember that for those of you working on research proposals that may be due during MSU's winter break between Dec. 21-Jan. 1, the Office of Sponsored Projects closes along with the rest of the university. If you have a special need for OSP support over the holidays, it is very important that you coordinate that with Kevin Enroth as soon as possible. His e-mail address is enroth@osp.msstate.edu or you may call 662-325-7404.
ORED, University Libraries partner for ORCID membership
The Office of Research and Economic Development and the University Libraries are pleased to announce a co-sponsored institutional membership with ORCID, a nonprofit organization that offers scholars a mechanism for claiming and aggregating their digital scholarship. Upon registration, an individual researcher is assigned a unique 16-character identifier that facilitates name disambiguation -- an important step for publishers, funders, repository managers, and others who handle digital assets. Digital Measures (DM), MSU's platform for collecting data about scholarship produced by its faculty and researchers, is also an ORCID member and recently integrated ORCID into its workflow. What this means for our community is an easier and more efficient way to populate DM records through this ORCID connection.
* More information about ORCID and how to import your ORCID data into DM is available at http://lib.msstate.edu/scholcomm/orcid and http://guides.library.msstate.edu/orcid/start
* To register for a free ORCID iD, simply go to https://orcid.org
Please feel free to contact the University Libraries with any questions you might have about ORCID and for assistance with populating your ORCID and DM records.
Kudos and congratulations
Every month, I look forward to sharing faculty and staff success stories with you, and here are a few that have crossed my desk recently:
* Kudos to Drew Hamilton, the director of the Center for Cyber Innovation and a professor of computer science and engineering, who was recently awarded the 2018 SIGAda Distinguished Service Award by ACM. Read more at http://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=4877.
* Congratulations to Merrill Warkentin, the James J. Rouse Endowed Professor of Information Systems in the College of Business, who has been named a Distinguished Member for Outstanding Scientific Contributions to Computing by ACM. Read more at http://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=4868.
* Kudos to Grant Presidential Library scholars John Marszalek, David Nolen and Louis Gallo for being recognized with the Mississippi Library Association's 2018 Writer's Award for Non-Fiction for their work editing "The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition." Read more at http://memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=4853
* Congratulations to Matt Thomas, chemical hygiene officer in the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, on his achievement of becoming a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager. The CHMM certification program is administered by the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management and is accredited by both the American National Standards Institute and the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Board. Candidates must meet certain prerequisites and successfully pass a national examination. Certification must be renewed every five years to ensure holders remain current with advancements in technology and changes in compliance requirements that occur frequently in hazardous materials management and related fields.
* Kudos to Melanie Loehwing, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, who is featured in a series focusing on the character and quality of public discourse in politics and culture. Her book, "Homeless Advocacy and the Rhetorical Construction of the Civic Home," reconsiders typical characterizations of homelessness, citizenship and democratic community through unconventional approaches to homeless advocacy and assistance. Read more at http://www.memo.msstate.edu/story.php?id=4866.
Final words
During this special time of year, we wish you happy holidays and all the best in the upcoming new year. If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns about Mississippi State's research and economic development activities, please feel free to contact me at dshaw@research.msstate.edu.
Merry Christmas and Hail State!