Mississippi State University’s Department of English will welcome Mississippi author and MSU alumna Julie Liddell Whitehead as the featured guest for the 2026 Price Caldwell Visiting Writers Series, where she will share excerpts from her debut short story collection about Hurricane Katrina.

Deep cracks in the ground tell the story of drought, where only about half the normal rainfall has fallen so far in 2026, making it the 10th driest in Mississippi history. Mike Brown, state climatologist with the Mississippi State University Department of Geosciences, said February was the driest on record for Mississippi and March was the third warmest and 11th driest.

A Mississippi State physicist has achieved a significant scientific advancement, producing a direct laboratory measurement of a key nuclear reaction believed to occur during explosive bursts on neutron stars. These bursts forge heavier elements—the building blocks of planets and life on Earth.