Jackson Free Press

Mississippi State University recently launched a 3D virtual-reality greenhouse project as part of its Future Growers Technology Initiative. The project is a partnership of MSU’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems.

The virtual greenhouse will teach students about analyzing crop production, a release from MSU says. The university's development team modeled the greenhouse with temperature, water and nutrient settings, as well as a control panel and user interface. Pulseworks, LLC, a company that specializes in motion simulators, is refining the MSU team's prototype.

Richard Harkess, a professor of plant and soil sciences at MSU, plans to use the technology in his greenhouse crops production course in the 2021 fall semester. Students will grow spinach, lettuce and tomatoes in the virtual greenhouse from seed to market, including feeding and watering the crops and dealing with issues such as insects and disease pressure.

The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture is funding the project through a three-year grant, which runs through July 2022. The grant is part of the organization’s Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics and Tools initiative.

For more information on the project, visit futuregrowers.cals.msstate.edu. For information on the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, visit pss.msstate.edu.

MSU Establishes Dr. Charles L. Wax Endowed Climatology Faculty Fellowship

Mississippi State University alum Bruce Thomas recently donated $100,000 to his alma mater to establish the Dr. Charles L. Wax Endowed Climatology Faculty Fellowship. The College of Arts and Sciences fellowship will benefit meteorology and climatology faculty in MSU's Department of Geosciences.

Wax was a professor emeritus and former geosciences department head at MSU. The fellowship’s faculty recipients will use the funds at the MSU High Performance Computing Collaboratory to promote future weather and climate research, a release from MSU says. The geosciences department head, CAS dean and MSU provost will select and name the first recipients later this year.

Wax helped establish MSU's broadcast meteorology program in 1979 and also created and taught its first course, introduction to meteorology. He and his colleagues also founded an operational meteorology program. Wax retired in 2013 after 35 years with the university. He also served as the state climatologist for Mississippi for nearly 30 years.

Outside of MSU, Wax was a member of the Mississippi Geographic Alliance and Association of American Geographers. He chaired the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southern Region Research Committee for Climatology in Agricultural Production and served as president of the American Association of State Climatologists.

The Dr. Charles L. Wax Endowed Climatology Faculty Fellowship is an open fund with the MSU Foundation. To contribute to the fund, call 662-325-3240 or email [email protected].

USM Using Grant to Combat Food Insecurity for Veterans

The University of Southern Mississippi Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families is partnering with the Mississippi Community Veterans Engagement Board to combat food insecurity for USM military students and local veterans.

USM received a $10,000 grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which it will use to provide 67 gift cards worth $150 each to allow veterans to purchase healthy foods at the Corner Market grocery store on Hardy Street in Hattiesburg.

The New York-based Bob Woodruff Foundation has partnered with the USM center for 3 years and has contributed $15,000 to date, which the USM Foundation administers.

For more information on the USM Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families, call 601-264-4629 or visit usm.edu/military-veterans. For more information on the USM Foundation, call 601-266-5210 or visit usmfoundation.com.