“I chose Mississippi State University without a second thought. There was simply no other place I could imagine calling home,” said Katelyn Jackson, a 2020 Mississippi State graduate. “I spent a summer in high school as a Rural Medical Scholar, and lived in Hull Hall, waking up each morning to the chapel bells ringing and spending my days taking pre-med courses while soaking in what college life encompassed. Experiencing the campus firsthand didn’t just show me what it meant to be a student, it revealed the path I wanted to follow as an undergraduate. I knew the College of Arts & Sciences was going to prepare me for medical school and to be a great doctor.”

Mississippi State University brought together one of the nation’s most active communities of microbial scientists recently when the university hosted the annual meeting of the South Central Branch of the American Society for Microbiology.

“From working big tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods, winter storms to supporting the Deepwater Horizon oil spill event and being deployed to support a Superbowl, they have all had a lasting impact on my journey,” said Kenneth E. Graham, a 1994 MSU geosciences graduate who today serves as the director of the National Weather Service. Before the NWS, he served as director of the National Hurricane Center.