“I was a bulldog from an early age. My dad graduated from Mississippi State University and my mom graduated from Mississippi University for Women, so I guess I had always known this was where I wanted to go to school,” said Walters, a 1988 MSU graduate. “The College of Arts and Sciences is a little longer story. I started off as a computer science major. I decided that I did not like programming, but I liked math and I liked German. I thought I wanted to teach, but a degree in mathematics provided me with additional opportunities if I chose not to teach. I am glad of the path I chose. It allowed me to go straight to a graduate degree program after graduation.”

“No matter where I have lived or how far my career has taken me, I carry Mississippi with me,” said Mississippi State alumna Keisha McCotry, who grew up in West Point, Mississippi, and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

A Mississippi State chemistry doctoral student spent nearly a month this fall training at two U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories, gaining experience with advanced scientific techniques that can help researchers better understand materials and answer complex scientific questions.