10/30/2020 - Jackson, Miss.

Commuting to work, visiting friends and family, getting the goods we need to retail outlets, and getting products grown and manufactured in Mississippi to market: All these daily activities require the state's roads and bridges to be in working order. Mississippi public universities provide academic programs, conduct research and house relevant institutes that support Mississippi's transportation infrastructure.

The Center for Interdisciplinary Geospatial Information Technologies at Delta State University supports Mississippi's transportation infrastructure. The Center works with local E-911 coordinators to improve addressing systems and emergency response and provides data used in the delivery service infrastructure. Companies from FedEx to Meals-on-Wheels rely on accurate addressing to deliver their services—this work saves real dollars through efficient routing. The center performs a technical advisory mission through the Mississippi Coordinating Council for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems. A legislatively mandated body, it provides advice and guidance on using geospatial technologies to state agencies. Complex computer databases and tools are used to map the state's transportation network to support routing, maintenance and placement of signage. Supporting the Council since 2005, Center Director Talbot Brooks chaired the Technical User's Group.

Jackson State University civil engineering and graduate students are working with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) to mitigate highway erosions caused by the notorious Yazoo Clay.

Recently, Mississippi State University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering became a named academic school within the university's James W. Bagley College of Engineering. The Richard A. Rula School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, named for the Ridgeland resident who is owner of Hemphill Construction Company, Inc., offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree specialty areas in transportation engineering. Because the quality of Mississippi's communities is directly related to the quality of their transportation systems, this field challenges its graduates to find the most effective and efficient ways to meet increasing travel needs related to highways, railroads, airfields and ports.

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The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning governs the public universities in Mississippi, including Alcorn State University; Delta State University; Jackson State University; Mississippi State University including the Mississippi State University Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine; Mississippi University for Women; Mississippi Valley State University; the University of Mississippi including the University of Mississippi Medical Center; and the University of Southern Mississippi.

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