Contact: James Carskadon
Vicksburg, Mississippi – Mississippi State University is expanding its presence in Vicksburg to help grow the city’s technology and startup sectors.
Using $650,000 in funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach established an office in Vicksburg in Sen. Thad Cochrane, Mississippi Center for Information Technology, commonly known as MCITy. To do. MSU’s Office of Technology Management is also resident at MCITY as part of a state-funded Mississippi Research Consortium effort to facilitate technology transfer efforts and research with the U.S. Army Engineers Research and Development Center (ERDC) and other federal agencies. Strengthen cooperation. partner.
“We are delighted to be part of the movement to increase the presence of high technology and entrepreneurial spirit in Vicksburg. “MSU has had several successful research collaborations in Vicksburg over the years thanks to our longstanding relationship with the ERDC. We are taking our presence in the city to another level to extend the impact of the enormous research work that is taking place in the city.”
The Mississippi Research Consortium is made up of MSU, Jackson State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Mississippi. Earlier this year, the Mississippi Legislature allocated $1 million in funding to the MRC agency to support technology transfer and entrepreneurship programs related to federal research being conducted in Mississippi.
The funding and personnel hired by MSU will strengthen the relationship between Vicksburg-based ERDC and ERDC’s technology commercialization partner, ERDCWERX. Former Director of Entrepreneurship Development and Ecosystem Builder at Innovate Mississippi, Tasha Bibb joined the MSU Office of Technology Management as Senior Program Manager and worked in Vicksburg as a university technology transfer support.
“Tasha has been driving entrepreneurship and advanced technology in Mississippi for the past 16 years,” said Jeremy Clay, Director of the Office of Technology Management. “She has a great track record of helping people turn ideas into successful companies and build partnerships that improve our condition. We are thrilled to have her join our team as we drive innovation-based economic activity across Vicksburg and the state.”
Eric Hill, director of MSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach, said the Vicksburg location complements the E-Center’s strategic plan to make entrepreneurial assistance accessible to all Mississippians. I said yes. Ryan Gilbrech joined the E-Center as his manager for the Vicksburg-based senior program. Gilbrech founded a company called Meta Games as a student at his MSU. The company has received capital investment from the Bulldog Angel Network as the first E-Center supported startup.
“There’s a lot of great research going on at Vicksburg, but there’s still limited support for turning that research into a startup company,” Hill said. “Because MSU has a history of doing it for entrepreneurs and helping them form technology companies, Vicksburg should not be a company related to technology emerging from the ERDC, MSU, or elsewhere. It seemed like the perfect place to help grow an ecosystem that supports technology entrepreneurship. Ryan’s history of being involved in the work of , makes him ideally suited to lead this effort.”
MSU’s presence in Vicksburg also includes the Systems Engineering Laboratory created by ERDC and MSU in 2014. MSU and ERDC include High Performance Computing, Materials Science, Military Engineering, Autonomous Systems, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning. Additionally, ERDC is he one of the largest employers of MSU engineering graduates.
For more information on MSU’s Office of Technology Management, please visit www.otm.msstate.edu. For more information on the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach, please visit www.ecenter.msstate.edu.