Consortia
Mississippi State University is a member of several consortia that have specific missions as described below. Further information concerning these programs may be obtained from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development.
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (M-ASGC)
The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is a research, educational, and service group including the following institutions.
- Mississippi State University
- Jackson State University
- University of Mississippi
- University of Southern Mississippi
- University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa)
- University of Alabama (Birmingham)
- University of South Alabama
- Auburn University
- Gulf Coast Research Laboratory
The Consortium was initiated by Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi in 1970 with both state and federal funding. It currently operates with approximately $1,100,000 per year and has research, education, and advisory service programs in marine law, fisheries, environment, and engineering. Graduate students are involved in the Consortium’s research programs in the same manner as in other funded research with the University. Faculty members working through the Consortium work in conjunction with faculty members at the other institutions; thus, opportunity for multidisciplinary, multi-university cooperation is provided. In September 1982, member institutions of MASGC were designated as Sea Grant Colleges “for sustained excellence in research, education, and public service dedicated to wise use of America’s marine resources.” The MASGC Consortium program is managed by a full-time director who is responsible to an administrative council appointed by the heads of the member institutions. The Consortium offices are located at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, MS 39564.
Mississippi Research Consortium (MRC)
The Mississippi Research Consortium aims to develop and sustain nationally competitive research programs in the state of Mississippi. Alongside supporting basic and applied research, the consortium has several additional goals: first, to increase public awareness of science, engineering, and mathematics at all educational levels to develop a scientifically literate citizenry who can fuel the science and engineering industry in Mississippi with the state's own human resources; second, to establish and maintain a solid scientific infrastructure in our university system by developing equipment and facility resources, collaboration resources, private sector links, and federal laboratory partnerships; and, third, to expand the state's economic opportunities through technology and knowledge transfer, including greater commercialization, increased technical assistance, and the education of a workforce that can support technology-based industries.
Formed in 1986, the Mississippi Research Consortium (MRC) includes Mississippi's four research universities: Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi. The MRC's Board of Directors is made up of the Chief Research Officers from these institutions. The board serves as the Science and Technology Research Advisors to both the Executive Branch and the Legislature and integrates science and technology initiatives with economic development plans in Mississippi. The creation of the Mississippi Universities Research Authority (MURA) Act of 1992 was the product of the collaboration among the MRC, MRC Technology Transfer Task Force, and the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning.
The MRC's member institutions work from an attitude of mutual respect and trust. All agree that their individual institutions have secured more resources by combining efforts than any one of them could have accomplished independently. This cooperative attitude has been successfully conveyed to faculty members, who often initiate collaborative efforts and recommend that certain proposals are directed through MRC. Generally speaking, the MRC operates by forming faculty teams from several universities to address research opportunities. The organization has received praise from the National Science Foundation and others, and has been cited as a national model for how best to form a state science and technology infrastructure. Often MRC works with all of the state's eight public universities and the UM medical center to strengthen research components.
Not long after its inception, MRC became involved not only with joint research actitvities but also with human resource development programs and science policy at both the state and national levels.
Oak Ridge Associate Universities (ORAU)
Since 1949, students and faculty of Mississippi State University have benefited from its membership in Oak Ridge Associated Universities, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORAU is a consortium of 86 colleges and universities and a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORAU works with its member institutions to assist their students and faculty gain access to federal research facilities throughout the country; to keep its members informed about opportunities for fellowship, scholarship, and research appointments; and to organize research alliances among its members. Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, the DOE facility that ORAU operates, undergraduates, graduates, postgraduates, as well as faculty, enjoy access to a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Students can participate in programs covering a wide variety of disciplines including business, earth sciences, epidemiology, engineering, physics, geological sciences, pharmacology, ocean sciences, biomedical sciences, nuclear chemistry, and mathematics.
The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA)
SURA is a consortium of colleges and universities in the southern United States and the District of Columbia established in 1980 as a non-stock, non-profit corporation. SURA serves as a venue for cooperation through which colleges, universities, and other organizations may cooperate, as well as with the government in acquiring, developing, and using laboratories and other research facilities and in furthering knowledge and the application of that knowledge in the physical, biological, and other natural sciences and engineering. SURA’s goals are to foster excellence in scientific research, to strengthen the scientific and technical capabilities of the nation and of the Southeast, and to provide outstanding training opportunities for the next generation of scientists and engineers.
University Space Research Alliance (USRA)
As part of USRA's governance structure, Mississippi State University is one of 105 Ph.D.-granting universities that help oversee USRA to ensure that it meets its public purpose. Member universities ensure broad public oversight of the corporation as it pursues its non-profit purpose of "development and application of space-related science, technology, and engineering." The member universities elect an independent board of directors which governs USRA and appoints the USRA president. University members receive no direct benefit from membership. Their oversight is provided solely as a public service, and all USRA activities are conducted without bias or preference.
Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
ICPSR seeks research data and pertinent documents from researchers, including PIs, research agencies, and government entities. ICPSR processes, preserves, and disseminates the data and documents. ICPSR also provides education, training, and instructional resources to help users understand and analyze research. http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/membership/index.html .
Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA)
IMA connects scientists, engineers, and mathematicians in order to address scientific and technological challenges in a collaborative and engaging environment, developing transformative new mathematics and exploring its applications while training the next generation of researchers and educators. http://www.ima.umn.edu/about/