Aurora delivers space-suit simulator

Aurora Flight Sciences, which has a production plant in Columbus, Miss., has completed delivery of a Space Suit Simulator to NASA following Phase II of a Small Business Innovative Research contract with aeronautic professors at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cincinnati. S3 was developed for NASA space research and training. Aurora developed the lightweight simulator to provide run in conjunction with NASA's Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). S3 is adjustable and is tentatively scheduled to be university field-tested before the end of summer. Source: Aurora Flight Sciences, Aug. 19, 2013.

Tyndall sets up F-22 training over NOLA

With resources for training on the sequestration down-low, but in the face of high demand, combat pilots and maintenance personnel members from Tyndall Air Force Base's 43rd Fighter Squadron and 43rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit in Northwest Florida have formed a real-world training mission at Naval Air Station/Joint Reserve Base New Orleans through the end of August. Its purpose is to maximize flying and air combat training for six F-22 student-pilots and accomplish 40 syllabus training units over eight days. At the end of the training, the F-22 Raptor pilots will be ahead of their proposed timeline getting orders to operational units, says Lt. Col. Travis Koch, 43rd FS commander. Source: Tyndall AFB, Aug. 16, 2013

MSU engineering R&D in Top 50

Mississippi State University ranks among America's top research universities and Top 50 for engineering research and development, according to data released from the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey for FY-2011. It places MSU 91st overall among all institutions based on its $226.1 million in total R&D expenditures. MSU’s 4,000 research staff numbers account for 60 percent of Mississippi institutions’ total R&D personnel; and nearly 50 percent of the state’s total research expenditures. In addition, MSU was designated one of 108 schools nationwide for its advancement of research-activity teaching by the Carnegie Foundation. The distinction represents the highest level of doctorate-granting universities in the nation; and the only state school with that distinction. Source: WTVA-TV, Tupelo-Columbus, Miss., Aug. 15, 2013.

Eurocopter: Player in China helo biz

When China opens its general aviation airspace in 2020, part of a 5-year plan, the sky will be the limit for commercial aviation; and the Asian nation will become the world's biggest market for helicopters. In the interim, some 250 potential customers will display their products at the China Helicopter Exposition from Sept. 5-8 in Tianjin. EADS’ Eurocopter, the world's largest helicopter manufacturer with manufacturing facilities from Europe to Mississippi, has anticipated the market and established an office in China in 2006. Ninety-eight of China’s 300 general aviation copters were made by Eurocopter – 14 of which are the Eurocopter EC 135 luxury model estimated to cost an average of $4.5 million apiece. Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky also have offices in China. Source: China Daily USA, Aug. 9, 2013. (Waldwick, NJ-based Kallman Worldwide Inc. is organizing its first U.S. international pavilion at the China helicopter expo.)

MSU engineer named NSPE president

Mississippi State University research engineer Robert Green is the newly-elected president of the National Society of Professional Engineers. He is the second MSU engineer to hold that post. Green is also undergraduate coordinator for the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering at the Starkville school. The new NSPE president holds a master’s in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College; and is working on his doctoral in public policy at MSU. The other MSU engineer to hold the NSPE presidency was Harry Simrall, the university's dean of engineering, in 1970-71. Source: The Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2013.

Miss: Showing business face in Paris (Clarion-Ledger opinion)

The Mississippi Development Authority laid out nearly $82,000 for its June economic-related business trek to Paris for the International Air Show. There were between 30 and 35 people – including Gov. Phil Bryant – that made the trip. MDA director Brent Christensen claims the state’s traditional appearances at the international air shows in Paris and London have made Mississippi a player in the aerospace business. MDA’s total costs were $131,000 but sponsorships and development partners reimbursed the state $49,367. Mississippi has more than 100 aerospace-related businesses and is a leader in aerospace technology and skilled manufacturing. Source: Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger Opinion Column, Aug. 10, 2013.

MSU’s Barret to join GSDP

Former Mississippi State University coordinator of transfer recruitment, Heath Barret, will be joining the Greater Starkville Development Partnership as director of membership development. Barret will join the partnership Aug. 19; and will assist with new-member recruitment, retention and directed chamber planning. Barret has served within the MSU Department of Admissions and Scholarships since 2006. GSDP’s mission is to enhance quality of life in Starkville and Oktibbeha County through business growth, creation of jobs, education and initiatives. Its membership includes the Starkville Area Chamber of Commerce, Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Starkville Main Street Association. Source: Columbus (Miss.) Dispatch, Aug. 6.

Bagley’s Bowden on WSU short list

The associate dean for academic affairs at Mississippi State’s Bagley College of Engineering is among three finalists for the position of heading Wichita State University’s College of Engineering. The trio will be on Kansas campus for talks with university officials next week, WSU officials said. MSU’s Royce Bowden Jr. will visit the campus from Aug. 14-16. He will take part in an open forum at Wallace Hall on Aug. 15. The other candidates are Atam Dhawan, interim dean at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology; and Arup Maji, senior technical adviser in Civil Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Source: Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, Aug. 6, 2013.

Biesiot takes interim CS&T helm at USM

The University of Southern Mississippi will conduct a national search this fall to select a new dean for its College of Science and Technology. Until then, Dr. Patricia Biesiot, a 23-year educator at the Hattiesburg-based college, will serve as interim dean. Biesiot takes the helm from Dr. Joe B. Whitehead Jr. who left in late July to become Provost at North Carolina A&T State University. Source: The Associated Press, Aug. 5, 2013.

Miss. high court to hear Eaton case

The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear Eaton Corp.’s revived, nearly decade old, trade-secrets lawsuit against Frisby Aerospace on Monday. The suit has spawned tens of millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees and attempted influence pedaling charges. At issue is Frisby’s alleged theft of vital Eaton trade secrets. A lower court ruled that Eaton hired a Mississippi-based lawyer - former judge and famous civil rights attorney Bobby DeLaughter - who tried to influence the judge presiding over the lawsuit. Eaton’s claims the value of its claim is more than $200 million. Source: Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer, Aug. 3, 2013. (Central Mississippi and Golden Triangle: Eaton Aerospace Group has a Fuel & Motion Control Systems Division located in Jackson, Miss.)

MSU, Army sign drone collaboration

Mississippi State University’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory is joining forces with the Army’s unmanned aircraft systems unit in Huntsville, Ala., to open a new chapter in the university’s research of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Officials signed paperwork Tuesday to foster collaboration between the Army’s Project Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and MSU that is to complement the school’s engineering research. The agreement allows MSU to boost its research capabilities and curricula that would allow students and faculty to research UAVs within the national airspace. Source: WVTA, Tupelo, Miss. July 23, 2013.

L-3 Vertex collaboration paying off

The Madison, Miss.-based L-3 Vertex Aerospace has collaborated with Vector Aerospace to produce and have the first-ever Federal Aviation Administration certified cockpit voice and flight data recorder (CVFDR). The CVFDR is being used on the Eurocopter AS332 helicopters. The twin-engine medium-weight passenger transport helicopter’s CVFDR includes a digital flight data acquisition unit. Source: Aviation Today, July 23, 2013.

Mississippi No. 5 in biz start-ups

The Kauffman Foundation, an entrepreneurship non-profit organization, has ranked Mississippi as the fifth best entrepreneurial state in America – ranking ahead of California, Illinois and Texas -- explaining why mostly-rural states top the list. Montana’s major oil-and-gas boom topped the rankings. Louisiana ranked No. 9. Source: Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger blog, July 22, 2013.

Odd biz-jet got its start at MSU

The HondaJet, which defines aviation logic with engines in a “sweet spot” above the wings making it aerodynamically superior, is on the brink of breaking into the American market with a nod from the Federal Aviation Administration. The idea for the odd commercial jet began 27 years ago in a Mississippi airport hangar with then-Mississippi State University aeronautical engineer Michimasa Fujino. If the FAA gives the go-ahead, Fujino’s Honda Aircraft Company will become the first new business to get U.S. approval in the $21 billion business-jet market since 2006. Source: Bloomberg News, July 19, 2013.

Opinion: South winning job-growth war

The South is winning (the economic job-growth wars without firing a shot) … and free men of all colors are voting with their feet to join a rising economic powerhouse. The new competition involves economic growth, technological advancement, jobs and the quality of life. Many (Southerners) have long glimpsed signs that it’s going well for the South, including (Mississippi). But it’s hard not to be impressed by a recent cataloging of the region’s ascendancy by Joel Kotkin, a scholar at Chapman University in California. Some of his findings include: (a) Unemployment is lower than in the West or Northeast; (b) Census data, adjusted for cost of living, shows New York has a higher rate of poverty than Mississippi … and he contends the South’s economic upturn is no coincidence. The region, the Californian reports, simply is more receptive to jobs-growing enterprises. Source: Savannah (Ga.) Morning-News ‘Opinion’, July 11, 2013.

GSG has new Miss. biz development manager

Genesis Systems Group, the largest independent U.S. robotic work cell integrator in North America which produces engineered solution products for aerospace components, has named Oscar Velazquez as its Southeastern U.S. business development manager. Genesis specializes in factory automation with robots for welding, cutting, assembly, and machine tending; and is a recognized leader in robotic systems integration. Velazquez’ territory includes Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Source: Genesis Systems Group, July 10, 2013.

Miss. on possible list for new STEM program

The charitable foundation of the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, Praxair Inc. of Connecticut, announced July 12 it is donating $105,000 to the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in support of Tech Savvy, the group’s successful science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program for young women. The plan is to take Tech Savvy to 10 new communities which may well include the states of Mississippi and Connecticut, and the cities of Chicago, Houston and Indianapolis. Source: Business Wire, July 12, 2013. (Mississippi Golden Triangle note: Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi State University are among seven state partner-colleges of the AAUW.)

The Accelerator puts pedal to mettle

Three firms have found new secondary homes at The Accelerator — a 60,000-square-foot incubator that rents space and equipment to fledgling and expanding technology companies and affiliated with the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. GE Aviation, which opened an Ellisville, Miss., plant in May, recently rented laboratory space there to train new employees to make components for jet engines. A second group is Vatican Capital, an investment firm focusing on making growth investments for small Catholic-owned businesses in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. The third firm is Radiance Technologies - established in 1999 in Huntsville, Ala. - develops electronics, polymers and military applications; and provides operational support for the Defense Department, intelligence and other government agencies. Source: Hattiesburg American, July 8, 2013.

Miss. high court to hear Eaton case

The Ohio-based Eaton Corp., which makes hydraulic aircraft pumps at a 600-employee aerospace facility in Jackson, goes before the Mississippi Supreme Court on Aug. 5 seeking reinstatement of its $1 billion trade secrets lawsuit filed against rival Frisby Aerospace, now part of Triumph Group, based near Philadelphia, Pa. In 2010, a Hinds County (Miss.) judge threw out the case, saying Eaton knew about and sanctioned secret actions by a company lawyer to influence case's initial judge in the case. (The judge was removed from the case and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.) Eaton alleges five ex-engineers took the firm’s aerospace information and gave it to their new employer, Frisby, which began competing against Eaton for military and commercial contracts. Source: The Associated Press, July 6, 2013.

Stark looking for engineer specialist

Stark Aerospace is looking for a mechanical or industrial engineer to become its ‘Design to Production Transfer Program Manager’ at its Columbus, Miss., facility. The candidate must have knowledge of project management principles and tools for measuring project/program successes. Stark Aerospace, July 2013.