Annual Research Awards BanquetT H U R S D A Y, A P R I L 2 7, 2 0 1 7H U N T E R H E N RY C E N T E R

Hosted by the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and the Vice President for Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine

M I S S I S S I P P I S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

Research Awards Banquet 2017

Thank you for joining us for this year’s Annual Research Awards Banquet at Mississippi State University. As our state’s leading university, Mississippi State-led research is an unrivaled success story, and each of you plays a role in that success.

We look forward to celebrating the talented and hard working people who have contributed to our research enterprise, and honoring many of you for your special achievements. Today, we say thank you and congratulations for a job well done.

David Shaw Greg BohachVice President for Vice President for Agriculture,Research and Economic Development Forestry and Veterinary Medicine

________________________________________________________________

Program

Welcome ~ Dr. Greg Bohachopening remarks anD Prayer ~ Dr. DaviD shaW

LUnch

Presentation of aWarDs

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and MAFESDr. Wes BUrGerFaculty: Jeff GoreResearch Support: Jesse MorrisonGraduate Student: Zhenghong BaoUndergraduate Student: Lucas Ferguson

College of Forest Resources and Forest and Wildlife Research CenterDr. Wes BUrGerFaculty: Jilei ZhangResearch Support: Florent BledGraduate Student: Austin OmerUndergraduate Student: Jacob Jones

College of Veterinary MedicineDr. kent hobLetFaculty: Chinling WangResearch Support: Shirley Guo-RossGraduate Student: Stephen R. Reichley

College of Architecture, Art, and DesignDean Jim WestFaculty: Jacob GinesResearch Support: Lori NeuenfeldtUndergraduate Student: Cody Smith

College of Arts & SciencesDr. GiselLe thibaUDeaUFaculty: Sam WinerResearch Support: Kimberly RaybornGraduate Student: Fadi SunUndergraduate Student: Taylor Prislovsky

College of BusinessDr. sharon osWalDFaculty: Brandon ClineGraduate Student: Andrew DhaenensUndergraduate Student: Josh Bedi

College of EducationDr. richarD BlackboUrn Faculty: Kun HuangResearch Support: Tiffany MiddletonGraduate Student: Jeffrey SimpsonUndergraduate Student: Alana Joy Turner

Bagley College of Engineering Dr. Jason keithFaculty: Tom LacyResearch Support: Sheri JohnsonGraduate Student: Mohammad MahtabiUndergraduate Student: Alex Calhoun

Meridian CampusDr. terry DaLe crUseGraduate Student: Lyle A. Wallace

University Centers and Institutes Dr. teresa GammilLResearch Support: Renee Brannon

Office of Research and Economic Development Dr. teresa GammilLUndergraduate Student: Jennifer Sappington

Ralph E. Powe Research Excellence AwardDr. DaviD shaW anD Dr. Greg BohachHenry Wan

MSU Intellectual Property Inventors, FY 2016Jeremy cLay

Plant Variety ProtectioncolLeGe of aGricULtUre anD Life sciences-mafesLeland Lanford — jointly with Timothy Walker, Paxton Fitts and Jennifer Corbin“CL163 (Crop Kind: Rice)”(PVPO No. 201400523 – Certificate Issued 12/9/15)CL163 is the first Clearfield rice variety in the southern United States that has an extra high amylose content and intermediate gelatinization temperature, known in the industry as a “Newrex” type.

Patent InformationcolLeGe of aGricULtUre anD Life sciences-mafesFei Yu and Qiangu Yan — jointly with William Batchelor“Catalysts for Converting Syngas into Liquid Hydrocarbons and Methods Thereof”(Patent No. 9,283,551 – Issued 3/15/16)This invention relates to a new and advantageous catalyst for use during a single-stage gasoline production process from biomass-derived nitrogen rich syngas. During the process, the catalyst is active to convert nitrogen-rich syngas to liquid hydrocarbon mixture at 1000 psi or low pressure, which makes this process more economical.

Fei Yu and Philip Steele — jointly with Mengmeng Gu and Yan Zhao“Using Biochar as Container Substrate for Plant Growth”(Patent No. 9,359,267 – Issued 6/7/16)The invention provides a method of making container substrate for plant growth and a method of growing plants in such substrate. The technology utilizes any form of biomass including, but not limited to, woody biomass (such as pine wood and pine bark) and herbaceous crops (such as switchgrass and kenaf ) to make biochar through a pyrolysis procedure.

colLeGe of arts anD sciencesJames L. Smith “Functional Enhancement of Antimicrobials”(Patent No. 9,120,861 – Issued 9/1/15)The invention provides a novel and distinctive technology called functional enhancement of antimicrobials (FEAM) that provides methods for the manufacture of novel lantibiotic analogs with enhanced functions and novel antimicrobial compounds that have enhanced properties. Lantibiotics are known to have a potent and broad spectrum of activity, an insignificant cytotoxicity, and demonstrated efficacy in animal infection models, suggesting therapeutic potential.

colLeGe of Forest resoUrcesPhilip Steele — jointly with SathishkumarTanneru and Sanjeev Gajjela“Composition and Methods for Improved Fuel Production”(Patent No. 9,222,032 – Issued 12/29/15)This invention is configured to produce boiler and transportation fuels. By this method, two pretreatment steps: oxidation and acid anhydride treatments are performed. The composition of the resulting product (e.g., a boiler fuel) produced by these methods may be used directly or further upgraded to a transportation fuel.

Philip Steele — jointly with Venkata Penmetsa“Methods for Producing Binders and Combustible Composite Materials and Compositions Produced Therefrom”(Patent No. 9,133,341– Issued 9/15/15)This invention provides for a method to densify and make highly water repellent torrefied wood, coal or char pellets with binding compounds derived from wood and soy bean biomass. The method utilizes the combination of protein hydrolysate with bio-oil as a reactive binder. The mixture is then pelletized with the application of heat and pressure. These pelletizing and briquetting systems are available commercially.

colLeGe of veterinary meDicineMark Lawrence and Attila Karsi“Live Attenuated Catfish Vaccine and Method of Making”(Patent No. 9,375,467– Issued 6/28/16)The invention discloses a live attenuated vaccine for prevention of enteric septicemia of catfish (ESC) caused by Edwardsiella ictaluri, which is one of the primary diseases impacting

catfish aquaculture in Mississippi and the U.S. E. ictaluri genes required for resisting the host immune response were identified by a novel bioluminescence mutant screening method. By deleting a unique combination of these genes, a vaccine strain was developed that is highly attenuated and yields better protection than the currently available commercial ESC vaccine on the market.

Janice Chambers, Edward Meek and Howard Chambers“Phenoxyalkyl Pyridinium Oxime Therapeutics for Treatment of Organophosphate Poisoning”(Patent No. 9,227,937 – Issued 1/5/16)Novel pyridinium oxime structures have been synthesized to determine their efficacy as reactivators of brain acetylcholinesterase with a highly relevant surrogate of sarin, an organophosphate nerve agent. With current oxime therapeutics, inhibited brain acetylcholinesterase cannot be reactivated because of the inability of these oximes to enter the brain; therefore, seizures and brain damage result. The novel therapeutics invented are capable of entering the brain and reactivating the inhibited acetylcholinesterase, hastening recovery from the poisoning. These therapeutics will have great utility to the military for protecting the warfighter from chemical warfare poisoning and protecting civilian population from chemical warfare agents.

2016-2017 Benjamin F. Hilbun Faculty Leadership ProgramDr. teresa GammilLAmy Crumpton, Interior DesignDarrin Dodds, Plant and Soil SciencesDeborah Eakin, PsychologyJeffrey Eells, CVM Basic Science DepartmentYong Fu, Electrical and Computer EngineeringJeffrey Haupt, ArtAlexandra Hui, HistoryMelissa Moore, Marketing, Quantitative Analysis and Business LawAndy Perkins, Computer Science and EngineeringEdwin Webster, Chemistry

Closing RemarksDr. DaviD shaW

Thanks and RecognitioninstitUtionaL animaL care anD Use committeeBrian Rude, ChairJake Adams-WilsonChris AyersAlejandro BandaDavid ChristiansenPatricia CoxJeffrey EellsJack ForbusMark GuytonCary HerndonAaron KiessChuck MischkeLucy SenterTrent SmithKacey StricklandElizabeth SwansonGiselle ThibaudeauAndrea Varela-Stokes

institUtionaL Biosafety committeeClarissa Balbalian, ChairJohn BrooksPatricia Cox Carey EdwardsCarla HustonCurtis JerniganAttila KarsiAlicia OlivierMichael ParsonsJohn StokesCliff StoryKacey StricklandJustin Thornton

raDioLoGical, chemicaL anD Laboratory safety committeeMatthew Ross, ChairPeter AllenTodd FrenchJamie LarsonGiselle ThibaudeauDan ReynoldsPeter RyanCharlie WaggonerScott Willard

conFlict of interest revieW committeeKen Willeford, ChairBarry BarnettTim BarnettKathy DooleyJennifer EasleyMark LawrenceJoan LucasMarc MeasellsBart MoffattJordan RamseyJuli ResterJudy SpencerKacey StricklandDavid Van Landingham

institUtionaL revieW BoarD For the Protection of hUman sUbJectsKari Babski-Reeves, ChairSteven Grice, Vice ChairDavid Baggett, AlternateTiger ChristianAshley ColemanPatricia FaverAdam KnightTom RitterJodi RobertsAngela RobertsonJamie StewartCliff StoryKacey StricklandJohn UsherJody Woodrum

oreD seminar series Presenters, FalL 2016/sprinG 2017Kari Babski-ReevesChristy BischoffReuben BurchLeslie BurgerWes BurgerJennifer EasleyKevin EnrothDana FranzPenny French

Teresa GammillKathy GelstonDrew HamiltonShauncey HillTina HoodStephanie HycheKendrick JohnsonSava KoleyDeborah LeeNeil LewisScott MaynardKris McCandlessLori NeuenfeldtJulia OsmanMichael ParsonsBlair ReedTom RitterDonna RogersBen SharpeJustin StidhamLesley StrawdermanKacey StricklandEmiko TezukoMatt ThomasEdwin Webster

FacUlty Partners, msms stUDent-researcher Program, FalL 2016/sprinG 2017Cindy BethelDaniel CarruthLei ChenHeeJin ChoMichael CoxTodd FrenchEric HansenLarry HansonRenita HortonHeather JordanKeith KoenigJonas KingN. KrishnanSantanu KunduEd Luke

Jun LiaoHugh MedalFlorencia MeyerTodd MlsnaRaj PrabhuWes SchillingAdrian SescuDarrell SparksCyprianna Swiderski Angelle TannerJustin ThorntonHossein ToghianiFarshid Vahedifard

FacUlty Partners, starkvilLe acaDemy stUDent-researcher Program, FalL 2016/sprinG 2017Jerome GoddardDonna GordanJamie StewartJustin Thornton

ralPh e. PoWe research exceLlence aWarD Winners2016 — Wes Burger2015 — Brent Funderburk2014 — Nicholas Herrmann2013 — Daniel G. Peterson2012 — Kambham “Raja” Reddy2011 — James C. Newman Jr.2010 — Stanislaw Grzybowski2009 — Shane Burgess2008 — Mark Horstemeyer2007 — Louis D’Abramo2006 — Jung P. Shim2005 — H. Michael Barnes2005 — Janice Chambers2004 — Domenico Parisi2003 — Thomas E. Nebeker2002 — Douglas L. Marshall2001 — Roger L. King2000 — David R. Shaw1999 — Robert W. Rogers1998 — Charles U. Pittman Jr.1997 — Lewis R. Brown

Honoree Profiles

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES AND MAFES

JEFF GORE | FacultyJeff Gore received his B.S. from Auburn University in integrated pest management, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in entomology.

Gore has been in Mississippi since 2002. He came to Mississippi as a research entomologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and now works as an associate professor at Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

Gore has authored or co-authored over 80 refereed publications and four book chapters. He has given numerous invited presentations at local, regional, national and international conferences.

As a mentor, he has graduated 11 M.S. students and four Ph.D. students, and he is currently advising four Ph.D. students and two M.S. students. He also serves on a number of other committees.

Gore’s primary research and extension responsibilities include integrated pest management of insect pests of agronomic crops grown throughout Mississippi.

Jesse Morrison | RESEARCH SUPPORTJesse Morrison is originally from the mountains of western North Carolina. He is a graduate of Berea College, in Berea, Kentucky, and the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

Morrison earned a Ph.D. in agronomy from Mississippi State University last May, and for the past four years, he has worked as a research associate with Professor Brian Baldwin in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

The scope of their research focuses on improvement breeding of forage crop species for use across the Southeast, and ecotype development of native grasses, legumes and forbs for land reclamation, wildlife habitat improvement and forage use.

Zhenghong Bao | Graduate StudentZhenghong Bao is a Ph.D. candidate with particular interests in heterogeneous catalysis, in situ characterizations, and C1 chemistry.

Prior to enrolling at Mississippi State, he worked for two years as a research assistant dealing with higher alcohols synthesis at Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, CAS, China. He holds a master’s degree in ferro-metallurgy from Shanghai University and a B.E. in chemical engineering from Zhejiang University of Technology, China.

For the 2016-17 academic year, Zhenghong is focusing on the kinetic study of dry reforming of methane, and the in situ XRD and XAS investigations on the nature of Ni-based catalysts.

Lucas Ferguson | Undergraduate StudentLucas Ferguson is a graduate of the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, and has lived in Mississippi all his life. He began his undergraduate studies at Mississippi State so that he could continue working with Dr. Henry Wan in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

While an undergraduate researcher, Ferguson has had the opportunity to present his work at scientific conferences, such as the American Society of Virology. He has also had the opportunity to conduct research abroad at the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Nanjing, China.

During four years of research, he has been able to publish two first-authored publications, and one co-first authored publication.

Following graduation from MSU, Ferguson will attend University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, and will pursue an M.Phil in Biology in the Department of Pathology. After Cambridge, he will study Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Moreover, he has also been awarded U.C. Berkeley’s most prestigious graduate-level fellowship: The Berkeley Fellowship.

He aims to continue conducting research in the field of virology, and hopes to become a professor following his Ph.D.

COLLEGE OF FOREST RESOURCES AND FOREST AND WILDLIFE RESEARCH CENTER

Jilei Zhang | FacultyJilei Zhang joined Mississippi State University’s faculty family on Nov. 20, 1998. Before coming to MSU, he worked at Thomson Consumer Electronics, which has TV brands such as RCA, GE, as a member of the technical staff in the Television Product Development Group.

At MSU, Zhang conducts applied research in the areas of furniture engineering, natural fiber/polymer

composites, nanomaterial reinforced bio-based composites, and synthesis of carbon-based nanomaterials from biomass.

Zhang has published more than 90 refereed journal articles and secured more than $6 million in research funds. This academic year, he is advising six Ph.D. and three M.S. students, supervising one research professor and two research associates, and has been granted one patent and also filed a provisional patent.

Florent Bled | Research SupportFlorent Bled is a research associate at the Carnivore Ecology Laboratory with the College of Forest Resources in Mississippi State. His research interests are at the interface between statistics and ecology — aiming at explicitly integrating ecological processes in a meaningful statistical framework and for management use. More particularly, his research focuses on the development of spatially explicit methods for estimating changes in population range and abundance.

Bled is currently working with Jerry Belant, the Dale H. Arner Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management at MSU, on the evaluation of population and harvest monitoring methods for coastal brown bear populations, focusing his efforts on the improvement of quality estimates of population parameters by combining information from different datasets using Integrated Population Models. Some of his other projects involve the study of large and medium carnivores in Michigan using co-occurrence models and the improvement of abundance estimation methods for lion populations in the Serengeti.

Before arriving at MSU in 2013, Bled earned his B.S. from University of Rennes, M.S. and Ph.D. from University Paul Sabatier in France. From 2010 to 2013, he worked on the development of spatially explicit trend models for the North American Breeding Bird Survey at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. During this timeframe, he also worked for the South African Bird Atlas Project at the University of Cape Town and developed a framework of spatially explicit dynamic occupancy models.

Aside from his research and direct advising, Bled engages in outreach and teaching. He wrote a coloring book in collaboration with Assistant Extension Professor Jessica Tegt to educate children about wild pigs, and is the university advisor for SCUBA Dawgs.

Austin Omer | Graduate StudentAustin Omer is currently an extension associate and Ph.D. student in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture at Mississippi State.

Omer graduated from Illinois State University — double majoring in biology and agriculture science. He was recruited to stay in ISU’s Agriculture Department and work on several agriculture environmental projects while earning his master’s degree in Agriculture Science.

After being named the 2012 Illinois State Agriculture Department Outstanding Graduate Student, Omer came to MSU on a Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station/Forest and Wildlife Research Center Director’s Fellowship Award to work on his dissertation: “Efficacy of tailwater recovery systems as an approach to water resource conservation.”

Omer was blessed to have two advisors during his tenure at Mississippi State — both Robbie Kröger and Peter Allen. In addition, he has been influenced by many professionals in the MSU family, and thanks each of them for their time and support. He will be graduating this May and plans to continue his work with the MSU Extension Service.

Jacob Jones | Undergraduate StudentJacob Jones grew up in Carlisle, Arkansas, where he graduated in 2014. He grew up hunting and fishing all over the state of Arkansas and beyond.

During the spring and summer months, he worked with his father for his private consulting company, Arkansas

Fish and Wildlife Management Inc., where he helped manage several private properties in Arkansas.

Jones came to Mississippi State University to pursue a degree in Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and has tailored that degree to fisheries. As a student, he has worked as a technician for several graduate students and has conducted undergraduate research under the guidance of Peter Allen, an associate professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture.

COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

Chinling Wang | FacultyChinling Wang received her DVM degree from National Pingtung Institute of Agriculture, Taiwan, in 1982, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1993. She has been a faculty member at Mississippi State University since 1993.

Wang has more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and has given more than 70 speeches at national and international meetings. She has received funding from

the USDA/ARS Food Safety Initiative multiple times. She also has productive working relationships with pharmaceutical companies and the poultry industry, and recently she was awarded $500,000 from Elanco Animal Health.

Wang’s research interests and expertise are not only valued here in Mississippi. She has advised the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine in Taiwan regarding animal health and food safety issues.

Shirley Guo-Ross | Research SupportShirley X. Guo-Ross was born in China and received a B.S. degree in biology from Lanzhou University. She came to the United States in 1991, and began working in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine.

Guo-Ross earned a Ph.D. in environmental toxicology at the University of California, Irvine, under the guidance

of Stephen Bondy in 2000. After graduation, she had four years of postdoctoral training

under Scott Swartzwelder in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Science at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

In 2004, following her husband’s job, she and her family moved to Starkville. She accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in Janice Chambers’ lab in the Center for Environmental Health Sciences in the Department of Basic Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State.

Since 2009, she has been working for Jeffery Eells as a research associate in the Department of Basic Sciences. The laboratory is investigating the molecular and neurobehavioral basis of schizophrenia. During her research career, she authored or co-authored 23 peer-reviewed publications and 37 meeting abstracts.

She and her husband, Matt Ross, have four children. Their oldest son is currently a junior at MSU, and their other three children attend Starkville public schools.

Stephen R. Reichley | Graduate StudentStephen Reichley earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Findlay in 2009 and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from The Ohio State University in 2013. In the summer of 2013, he began working on his Ph.D. at Mississippi State under the direction of Matt Griffin, associate research professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Pathobiology and Population Medicine Department and Mark Lawrence, professor and associate dean in the CVM Basic Science Department.

His Ph.D. work focuses on Edwardsiella, a genus of bacteria that affects wild and cultured fish globally. His primary focus has been on the comparative genomics and pathogenicity of the phenotypically ambiguous taxa traditionally classified as Edwardsiella tarda. Recent work has identified three distinct genetic taxa within the group of bacteria historically classified as E. tarda: E. tarda, E. piscicida and E. anguillarum.

Reichley recently completed the development and validation of qPCR assays for detection and quantification of these genetically distinct Edwardsiella species. He has also completed work identifying varying degrees of pathogenicity of these organisms in juvenile channel and hybrid catfish. In addition to his wetlab work, he has sequenced representative genomes of each of the Edwardsiella species.

To date, Reichley has 12 publications as a result from his dissertation work and other

internal and external collaborative projects and has over 20 abstracts at national and international meetings. He has received several travel awards such as the Mississippi State University Travel Assistance Grant for Graduate Students and Graduate Student Travel Award from Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine. He has also been awarded several first place awards for poster and oral presentations.

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, ART, AND DESIGN

Jacob A. Gines | FacultyJacob A. Gines is an assistant professor in the School of Architecture at Mississippi State University. He teaches advanced design studios and building technology courses with an emphasis on building materials and methods. His research and scholarship explore mass timber mid-rise construction, material innovation, and manufacturing and fabrication processes.

Gines received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Utah in 2007, His graduate work examined culture and society as catalysts for architectural intervention and spatial appropriation. Upon graduation, he began teaching design studios and developed a course on Hindu, Islamic and contemporary architecture of India at the University of Utah Graduate School of Architecture. He relocated to Mississippi in 2012 to join the architecture faculty at MSU.

Gines regularly presents his research and creative work throughout the United States and beyond. Most recently, he spoke at the 2017 Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Oregon on a project in collaboration with the Mississippi Forestry Association entitled, “TIMBR: Timber Innovations for Mississippi Buildings Reimagined” – exploring mass timber applications for mid-rise building in Mississippi.  This came on the heels of Gines’ presentation at the 6th International Conference on the Constructed Environment in Mesa, Arizona — “Sustainable Futures: Solid Timber Application in Mid-Rise Construction.”

Gines enjoys a strong relationship with the timber industry and has been featured as the keynote speaker at the annual meetings for the Mississippi Forestry Association, Southern Pressure Treaters’ Association and Resource Management Service, among others.

Gines has been engaged in architectural practice since 2001 and is an award-winning designer of several institutional, higher education, and multi-family housing projects.

As vice president of research and design at Method Studio in Salt Lake City, Gines leads the firm’s research activities, which are aimed at constructing designed solutions utilizing innovative techniques, practices and critical discourse.

In the fall of 2015, Method Studio, under Gines’ leadership, established the Method Studio Undergraduate Research Fellowship. It provides architecture students at Mississippi State opportunities to work directly with Method Studio senior leadership in developing architectural research.

Lori Neuenfeldt | Research SupportLori Neuenfeldt is an art history instructor and the gallery director of the Department of Art Galleries at Mississippi State University. She has a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art and a master’s degree in Art History from Florida State University.

Prior to work at MSU, Neuenfeldt held positions in museums across the eastern United States, including internships at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and she was assistant registrar at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Neuenfeldt has organized more than 60 art exhibitions and currently divides her time between the MSU art galleries and teaching. Her courses include History of Art I: Prehistoric to Gothic, Fine Art Senior Research, Survey of Historic Costume, and Understanding Fashion in Art.

Along with organizing gallery exhibitions and teaching, Neuenfeldt manages the MSU Historic Costume and Textiles Collection.

Cody Smith | Undergraduate StudentCody Smith is currently a fifth-year student in Mississippi State’s College of Architecture, Art and Design program. In May, he will receive his Bachelor of Architecture degree.

During his studies, Smith has gained an interest in the design and development of sustainable architecture. He teamed up fellow classmates, who aptly named themselves the Audit Squad, and began to test homes for air infiltration across Starkville. Concluding their findings, the team submitted their research paper: “The Leaky American Dream,” which was awarded the 2015 Building

Technology Educators Society Student Award of the Year, along with a $1,000 prize. In addition to the air infiltration findings, the paper illustrated a few simple construction and post-construction techniques that could improve home air infiltration and reduce energy usage.

Alongside a select group of students, Smith was afforded the opportunity to collaborate in an independent study for Associate Professor Alexis Gregory’s book, “Comprehensive Tectonics: Technical Building Assemblies from the Ground to the Sky.” An investigation of traditional textbooks led to the creation of new and revised layouts, formats and organizational elements used to clarify tectonics in Gregory’s publication.

Smith most recently worked as a research and exhibition/publication development assistant for Professor Hans Herrmann by developing and building exhibit materials used in the 2016 exhibition of the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum SuperUse Pavilion. Drawings and research developed he developed were included in a 256-page publication used in the exhibit “By the People: Designing a Better America,” created by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.

After graduation, Smith will return to Montgomery, Alabama, as an intern architect with Seay, Seay & Litchfield Architects. Using the collaboration and leadership skills developed from his research opportunities at Mississippi State University, he plans to play an active role in community development organization in Montgomery.

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

E. Samuel (Sam) Winer | FacultyE. Samuel (Sam) Winer is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Mississippi State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012, where he began studying the relationship between depression and positive emotions.

Winer has published 29 peer-reviewed papers or chapters in his career, including 15 publications with student co-authors. Since 2014, he has had 21 publications that have

either been published or are currently in press, including 17 peer-reviewed publications in consistently high-impact journals (mean impact factor = 3.28). 

The highlight of this work is a first-authored article appearing in 2016 in Psychological Bulletin, which is the top journal in psychology for large-scale reviews and new

theoretical contributions. In this paper, he introduced the reward devaluation theory of depression, which explains why and demonstrates how depressed individuals avoid information that is rewarding to others. This novel theory has generated excitement from international leaders in the field and has important implications for what future treatments will work best for depressed individuals. To support his work, Winer has secured funding of more than $750,000 from federal agencies in the past four years, including multiple grants and program awards from the National Institute of Mental Health. His R15 AREA grant from NIMH, which was the only NIMH grant funded in the state of Mississippi when awarded, has also recently received a perfect score of 10 (ranking it in the first percentile) on a competitive renewal application that will provide three additional years and another $400,000 of funding for Mississippi State beginning this summer.

Kim Rayborn | Research SupportKim Rayborn is a native of Laurel, and she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology with an emphasis in sociology from Mississippi State University in 2011. After graduating from MSU, she received her Master of Arts degree in criminal justice from the University of Southern Mississippi. At USM, she developed in interest in community policing strategies and law enforcement education and training. She conducted her graduate thesis study on perceptions of offenders with mental illness in the criminal justice system.

Rayborn joined the College of Arts and Sciences at Mississippi State in February 2016 as an administrative assistant dedicated to pre-award research support. Her role within the college involves assisting faculty with proposal development, serving as liaison with the Office of Sponsored Projects to facilitate the internal approval process, and administrating internal College of Arts & Sciences awards for faculty and graduate students.

A faculty member wrote in a letter of support for this award: “During my work with Kim, she has shown an impressive degree of initiative and organization. Kim has been instrumental in helping prepare federal grant proposals for submission. She is extremely professional, timely, responsive, detailed, and over all a very pleasant person to work with. She is also an indispensible liaison between the Office of Sponsored Programs and PIs in the College of Arts and Science. Kim is one of the people at MSU that makes the difficult parts of my job easier and more enjoyable.”

And in another letter of support, a department head wrote: “...knowledge of programmatic expectations, professional manner, kind, caring and supportive of faculty efforts. Her efforts constitute an essential factor in our ongoing efforts to increase extramural funding in the Department (College) ...It is the nature of things that faculty who are juggling the many responsibilities of teaching, research, and service are often trying to submit grant proposal at the eleventh hour, and Kim’s timely response have made it possible to submit proposals that might otherwise have been too late. ...A final point concerning attitudes of service and collegiality which are vitally important when faculty and staff are working collaboratively with other departments, colleges and centers to submit proposals. There is a level of stress that is hard to imagine unless it has been experienced when getting down to the last few hours and minutes of the submission process. I believe that Kim brings an exemplary commitment to service and an attitude of collegiality to her position, and I am personally grateful that she is ‘on board’ to help facilitate our faculty successes.”

Fadi Sun | Graduate StudentFadi Sun was born in Jiangxi, China, in 1987. He received the Bachelor of Science degree in applied physics from University of Science and Technology Beijing, China, in 2008. Later, he registered as a graduate student and earned his PhD in theoretical physics at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2016.

Since January 2013, he has attended Mississippi State University as a graduate student and recently became a Ph.D. candidate. He has published one paper in Scientific Reports, one paper in Physical Review A and one paper in Physical Review B as first author and three papers as co-author.

Taylor Prislovsky | Undergraduate StudentTaylor Prislovsky is a senior professional meteorologist and GIS student at Mississippi State University who has been working with Andrew Mercer, an associate professor of meteorology in the Department of Geosciences, the past year

The research has been examining the relationship between non-tornadic severe weather outbreaks and

model predictions at intervals of 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours before the event began, and testing the accuracy of the forecast models in these events.

Prislovsky plans on attending Mississippi State as a graduate student this coming fall.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

Brandon N. Cline | FacultyBrandon N. Cline is the John “Nutie” and Edie Dowdle Associate Professor of Finance in Mississippi State University’s College of Business. His research focuses on insider trading, executive compensation, equity offerings, and corporate governance.

His work has been published in numerous finance journals, including Journal of Financial Economics, Financial Management, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance, The Journal of Financial Research, The Financial Review, and Journal of Financial Services Research.

Cline has received invitations to present his work at prestigious conferences such as the American Finance Association. He has also received various research awards including the 2014 Wharton School-WRDS Outstanding Paper in Empirical Research, the 2012 Journal of Financial Research Outstanding Article Award, the 2010 Eastern Finance Association Outstanding Paper Award, the 2009 Eastern Finance Association Outstanding Paper Award, and the 2008 Southern Finance Association’s Outstanding Paper Award in Corporate Finance.

His research has also been the subject of feature stories in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Radio, FoxBusiness, CNNMoney, and RealClearMarkets.

Prior to joining Mississippi State, Cline taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in corporate finance and financial derivatives at Clemson University. In 2006, he received the Outstanding Finance Faculty Award at the University of Alabama.

Andrew Dhaenens | Graduate StudentAndrew Dhaenens is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Management and Information Systems at Mississippi State University. He has a B.S.B.A. and a M.B.A. from the University of Detroit Mercy, where he was a cheerleader.

Before coming to Mississippi State, his industry experience in human resources spanned across multiple industries including retail, architecture and engineering, and higher education. His primary area of research is mentoring with supporting interests in career success, family

business, and social networks.

Dhaenens’ work can be found in the Journal of Managerial Issues and Human Resource Management Review.

Josh Bedi | Undergraduate StudentJosh Bedi was born in Jackson and grew up in Brandon with his mom, dad, brother and two sisters. He came to Mississippi State in 2012, and has been a student in the international business program since then with a major in economics and German.

He recently received a fellowship offer from George Mason University, and so his next plans are to get a Ph.D. in economics at George Mason.

In his free time, he likes to listen to and play music, ride motorcycles and hang out with my friends.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Kun Huang | FacultyKun Huang is an assistant professor in the Department of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development at Mississippi State University. Her research interests focus on problem-based learning, simulation-based science inquiry, and students’ beliefs and motivation in technology-supported learning environments.

She has published empirical studies in refereed journals, and presented research and instructional design works at

various national and international conferences.

Since 2014, Huang has been a co-principal investigator of a grant from the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning that aims to train middle and high school teachers to adopt strategies and technology to effectively teach 21st century learners.

Tiffany Middleton | Research SupportOriginally from Rogersville, Alabama, Tiffany Middleton attended Blue Mountain College for her undergraduate degree and received her master’s degree from Delta State University, both in education. Her National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification is in Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood.

After teaching in the classroom for eight years, Middleton seized the opportunity of a career shift to higher education at Mississippi State as an instructor/coordinator. During this time, she coordinated a grant through the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. In January 2016, she began her current position as the contract and grant specialist for the College of Education where she serves as a resource to faculty and staff in their research endeavors.

On a personal note, she and her husband, Jason, have one child, Madi. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities and traveling with her family.

Jeff Simpson | Graduate StudentJeff Simpson is about to complete his second year of his Ph.D. in the department of kinesiology at Mississippi State University. Originally from Houston, Texas, he completed a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Texas-Arlington.

Following completion of his undergraduate degree, he worked in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation for two years before pursuing a master’s degree at the University of North Alabama in health and human performance.

Simpson is actively conducting and assisting with ongoing research in the Neuromechanics Laboratory at Mississippi State with his advisors Adam Knight and Harish Chander. During his time at Mississippi State, he has focused his scholastic and research efforts on the biomechanics of lower extremity injuries, footwear and sports biomechanics, and human factors and ergonomics.

This past spring, Simpson received a grant from Ironwear Fitness to complete a study investigating the effects of long-term exposure to weighted vests on balance, jump, landing and sprint performance and hopes to have his findings published in a peer-reviewed journal. He is on track to begin data collection on his dissertation

this upcoming fall and plans to investigate different athletic footwear types on lower extremity dynamics in individuals with chronic ankle instability.

Following completion of his Ph.D., Simpson plans to continue his research in sports performance and lower extremity injury prevention in either industry or while teaching at a four-year university.

Alana Joy Turner | Undergraduate StudentAlana Joy Turner is a senior pursing a degree in kinesiology with a concentration in clinical exercise physiology. She attended East Central Community College where she played women’s soccer and tennis and received an Associate of Science degree. She then transferred to MSU and became involved in research.

The summer before her senior year she helped charter the Neuromechanics Research Core, a club for undergraduates to participate in research studies. The following fall and spring, she was given the opportunity to conduct two directed individual studies under the direction of her mentor, Harish Chander.

Turner’s future plans are to pursue a master’s degree at Mississippi State in exercise physiology with a concentration in biomechanics, while performing research involving women’s footwear. Also, she has accepted a graduate assistantship at the Joe Frank Sanderson Center with the fitness department, where she has worked for two years.

JAMES WORTH BAGLEY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Thomas E. Lacy Jr. | FacultyThomas E. Lacy Jr. is a professor of aerospace engineering in the Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New Mexico. His research interests include multifunctional composite materials, multiscale modeling, durability and damage tolerance.

Lacy worked for nearly a decade as a practicing aerospace engineer. His research and teaching interests include multifunctional composite materials, multiscale modeling,

aerospace structures, computational solid mechanics, and durability and damage tolerance. He has published more than 100 refereed journal articles, conference proceedings and technical reports in these areas, and has been recognized for his contributions to both teaching and research.While at Georgia Tech, he received a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Fellowship. He has received a number of university-level awards for outstanding teaching, is a member of the Bagley College of Engineering Academy for Distinguished Teachers, and received a 2012-2013 MSU Faculty Leadership Award. He received a 2009 SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award and was selected to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and Who’s Who in Engineering Education.

Lacy has been active in organizing and chairing conference symposia, developing industry short courses and distance learning courses, and serving as a reviewer for numerous archival publications. He has served as a consultant on both industry and government research and development projects and routinely mentors undergraduate researchers. He also serves as a scientific advisor to Golf Digest magazine.

Lacy is a fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is an associate fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has been highly active in the American Society for Composites. He is a member of the Sigma Gamma Tau National Aerospace Engineering Honor Society and is a founding university partner/ collaborator with the NASA Glenn Multiscale Analysis Center of Excellence.

Lacy served as interim Head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering from 2013-2016.

Sheri W. Johnson | Research SupportSheri W. Johnson received her Bachelor of Science degree in paralegal studies from Mississippi University for Women in 1996, and joined Mississippi State University in the College of Education that same year.

In 1997, she joined the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration (now the Office of Sponsored Projects). She became the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s business manager in 2005. From 2002 to 2010, she served in the university’s Facility Security Office, in addition to the responsibilities of her fulltime position.

Johnson is a member of NCURA — the National Council of Research Administrators — and she became a Certified Research Administrator in 2008.

Mohammad Mahtabi | Graduate StudentMohammad Mahtabi is a fourth-year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at James Worth Bagley College of Engineering. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tehran and a master’s degree from Iran University of Science and Technology. He ranked as an honor student at both institutions.

Mahtabi is conducting research on fatigue and fracture behavior of materials, focusing on shape memory alloys

(SMA), under the direction of Tonya Stone. He is employing several experimental, analytical and computational techniques to understand the mechanisms and model the fatigue behavior of SMAs.

His research involves many complex (and coupled) physical phenomena with the need to understand and model: damage propagation, cyclic deformation, phase transformation, superelasticity, and damage accumulation.

Based on his research he has published seven journal articles, one book chapter, and presented at multiple conferences, while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

Alex Calhoun | Undergraduate StudentAlex Calhoun is an undergraduate research assistant in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering department at Mississippi State University.

Born and raised in Starkville, Alex first took an interest in research the summer of 2013 after her high school graduation. Now, working under the direction of Kari Babski-Reeves, professor and associate dean for research and graduate studies, she participates in human factors

and ergonomics research, engaging in projects that evaluate posture, muscle activity, and subjective discomfort when interacting with corrective equipment — such as sit-to-stand workstations and posture corrective gear.

Upon graduation in December 2017, Alex plans to pursue her master’s degree and doctorate in educational systems engineering and engineering education. In the future, she aspires to use her knowledge to redesign and improve the educational system for Mississippi and other states.

MERIDIAN CAMPUS

Lyle Wallace | Graduate StudentLyle Wallace is an 8th grade, National Board Certified, science teacher at Pilate Middle School in Newton. He returned to Mississippi State’s graduate school in 2015 to complete his master’s degree in community college leadership with an emphasis in history. This degree was completed in December 2016 with much leadership, encouragement and assistance provided by Mark Fincher — an assistant professor in the Division of Education at MSU-Meridian.

His most recent article, written along with classmates, “Improving Developmental Math Courses: A Study on Various Methods for Replacing Developmental Mathematics Courses in Higher Education,” was published in the Mississippi Review. Another paper, “The Mississippi Community College Story: From Humble Beginnings to Extraordinary Outcomes,” was presented at the Council for the Study of Community Colleges in Plano, Texas and is in the process of being published.

When Wallace is not serving as a chauffeur for his three children Leigh, Anna and Cale or wrestling with his half Pomeranian and half Chihuahua named Donkey, he enjoys researching and writing about topics that he feels are important to the field of education. With the support and help of his wife, Amy, all of this work is done in an effort to steer the future path of education in the right direction and add to the existing body of knowledge available to society.

UNIVERSITY CENTERS AND INSTITUTES

Renee Brannon | Research SupportAfter graduating from Mississippi State with a bachelor’s degree in business administration 30 years ago, Renee Brannon returned to the university in April 2015 to work at MSU’s National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision as business manager.

Her responsibilities include all financial aspects of the department’s grant funding, as well as assisting with budgets for proposal submissions.

Last August, she was selected to participate in the Departmental Administrator Working Group (DAWG) program offered by the Office of Sponsored Projects, which she will be completing in May.

Prior to working at Mississippi State, Brannon spent six years managing grant programs for a non-profit organization in Jackson and 19 years in commercial real estate management in Jackson and Little Rock, Arkansas.

She and her husband, Buddy, have been married for 30 years and they have two daughters — Caroline, 25, and Erin, 21. When not at work, she enjoys home improvement projects and repurposing old building materials into new uses. She and her family also enjoy MSU football tailgating.

OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Jennifer Sappington | Undergraduate StudentJennifer Sappington was born in Jackson and lived in Starkville until she moved to Hattiesburg in 2001. She attended Oak Grove Schools in Lamar County from kindergarten until her graduation from high school in 2015. She began college at Mississippi State University in the fall of 2015 as a chemistry pre-pharmacy major.

As a current sophomore, Sappington plans to graduate with her chemistry degree in May 2019. She plans to attend pharmacy school, where she hopes to receive a Doctorate of Pharmacy degree. She then hopes to pursue a career as a pharmacist.

Sappington’s work with the Office of Research and Economic Development began in November 2015 when the Office of Sponsored Projects hired her as a student worker. There, she assists in processing research paperwork, keeping files up to date and organized, and greeting and welcoming all who come into the office. She also interacts with and assists those who call the office. She has learned about the research process on campus through her job at OSP.

In addition to her job at the Office of Sponsored Projects, she is also an active member of Alpha Epsilon Delta, where she serves as secretary. She is also a member of Phi Kappa Phi. Her involvement in these programs has allowed her to hone her leadership skills and contribute to the university community.

RALPH E. POWE RESEARCH EXCELLENCE AWARD

Henry WanHenry Wan earned his B.S. degree in veterinary medicine from Jiangxi Agricultural University in Nanchang, China. He earned an M.S. degree in avian medicine from the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, China. He earned an M.S. in computer science at Mississippi State University and a Ph.D. in veterinary medical sciences at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Interestingly, Wan’s Ph.D. mentor was Todd Pharr (MSU-CVM), who was mentored by Bruce Glick, a famous immunologist who discovered B lymphocytes. Wan recently mentored Lucas Ferguson, an MSU undergraduate who has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, a highly competitive award that will provide funds for Lucas to attend the University of Cambridge for a year. So, Ferguson can trace his academic lineage through Wan and back to an MSU professor, Bruce Glick, whose story can be found in almost all immunology textbooks.

Wan began his academic career as an assistant professor at Miami University of Ohio in 2005. In 2007, he accepted a senior scientist position in the Influenza Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. He accepted a position as assistant professor in the Department of Basic Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at MSU in 2009. He rose rapidly through the ranks and was promoted to professor in 2016.

Wan has published 105 peer-reviewed papers, and he has developed 14 software programs, including widely used antigenic cartography software. He has presented more than 100 posters and almost 150 oral presentations at prestigious venues all over the world. He has mentored 69 trainees ranging from high school students to visiting faculty members. He has seven active grants worth more than $4.5 million at the present time. Most of these are highly competitive, including an NIH R01 grant for which funding rates are generally less than 10%. He serves on editorial boards of three journals, including Nature’s Scientific Reports. He has been invited to serve on several grant review panels for agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, CDC, and Food and Drug Administration. He has organized several major scientific meetings and symposia, including the First Animal-Human Interface Symposium in Shanghai, China.

Wan is recognized by leading influenza researchers for his innovative laboratory and computational approaches to understanding and developing better approaches to treat and prevent influenza.

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