MSU will expand its presence in Vicksburg to support the technology, startup economy

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VICKSBURG, Miss. – Mississippi State University is expanding its presence in Vicksburg and helping to grow the city’s technology and startup sector.

With $650,000 in funding from the US Small Business Administration, the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Development is establishing an office in Vicksburg at the Senator Thad Cochran Mississippi Center for Information and Technology, commonly known as MCT. MSU’s Office of Technology Management will have a full-time position at MCIty in the state-funded Mississippi Research Consortium to enhance technology transfer efforts and research collaborations with the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and other federal agencies. Partners.

“We are excited to be a part of the movement to increase Vicksburg’s high-tech and entrepreneurial presence, and I appreciate our state legislature and congressional delegation supporting these projects,” said Julie Jordan, MSU’s vice president for research and economic development. “Thanks to our long-standing relationship with ERDC, MSU has had several successful research collaborations in Vicksburg. These two projects will take our presence in our city to another level, in collaboration with local partners and entrepreneurs to expand the impact of the massive research activity taking place in our region.

The Mississippi Study Association includes MSU, Jackson State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Mississippi. Earlier this year, the Mississippi Legislature appropriated $1 million in funding for MRC institutions to support technology transfer and job creation programs related to federal research in Mississippi.

MSU’s hiring of funding and staff will enhance the relationship between Vicksburg-based ERDC and ERDCWERX, ERDC’s technology marketing partner. Tasha Bibb, former director of entrepreneurship development and ecosystem development with Innovate Mississippi, has joined MSU’s Office of Technology Management as a senior program manager supporting the university’s technology transfer in Vicksburg.

“Tasha has spent the past 16 years promoting entrepreneurship and advanced technology in Mississippi,” said Jeremy Clay, director of the Office of Technology Management. “She has a strong track record of helping people turn ideas into successful companies and building partnerships that improve our state.” I’m excited to have her on the team as we work with our colleagues from ERDC and other MRC institutions to drive innovation-based economic activity in Vicksburg and the state.

Eric Hill, director of MSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Service, said the presence in Vicksburg compliments the e-center’s strategic plan to make entrepreneurship support available to all Mississippians. Ryan Gilbrecht has joined the e-Center as a senior program manager based in Vicksburg. Gilbrecht founded Meta Games as a student at MSU, a company that would become the first e-center-backed startup to receive capital investment from the Bulldog Angel Network.

“There’s great research going on in Vicksburg, but there’s limited support to help the technology that comes out of that research become a startup company,” Hill said. “MSU has a history of doing that for entrepreneurs and a history of helping them start tech companies, so Vicksburg seemed like the perfect place to help us grow the ecosystem that supports tech entrepreneurship, whether it’s related to technology coming out of ERDC, MSU or elsewhere. Ryan’s story of building a successful company.” And he is well suited to lead this effort by participating in our work here at E-Center.

MSU’s presence in Vicksburg includes the Systems Engineering Research Institute, which was created in 2014 by ERDC and MSU. MSU and ERDC have dozens of research projects based on shared expertise and capabilities in areas such as high-performance computing, materials science, military engineering, autonomous systems, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning, among others. Additionally, ERDC is one of the largest employers of MSU engineering graduates.

For more information about MSU’s Office of Technology Management, visit www.otm.msstate.edu. For more information about the Center for Entrepreneurship and Advocacy, visit www.center.msstate.edu.