The Gulf Coast Business Council commissioned The University of Southern Mississippi Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship to conduct a comparative analysis of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Metropolitan Statistical Area's ability to compete in Place Making and Talent Attraction. Three economic development graduate research assistants, Jennifer Hooper (pictured); Jhai Keeton (pictured); and Eric Wiggins (not pictured), aided Dr. Shannon Campbell in creating a Quality of Place report for the Gulf Coast Business Council. The report compared the Gulf Coast Region to ten benchmark communities throughout the Southeast region of the United States to measure the quality of life. Research for the report was compiled between the months of August-November. The report was presented at the 2nd Annual State of the Coast Economy Symposium by Dr. Roberto Gallardo following a presentation by state economist, Darrin Webb.

Brittany McCoy of Picayune, MS was awarded this year's Rhodes and Ingram Economic Development Scholarship Endowment which provides tuition assistance to a Mississippi Master of Economic Development student who is a member of the Mississippi Economic Development Council. Brittany has a bachelor's degree in hospitality and tourism management from The University of Southern Mississippi and has been in the restaurant management industry including Cookout and Waffle House for over six years. Her passions include food, health and wellness, music, and working with people.  She plans to use the MSED program to transition to a career in economic development. She wants to help create a more attractive Mississippi through job creation, an enhanced tourism industry, better communities, and overall, more reasons to not only visit, but to live in the state of Mississippi.  

The University of Southern Mississippi has become the first institution of higher education to deploy the advanced AI-enabled economic data analytics platform, Gazelle.ai within its curriculum in the College of Business and Economic Development. The Gazelle.ai investment attraction platform has been designed to help economic developers, trade investors, and dealmakers generate leads, engage those leads, and ultimately attract investment. Through the MSED program, students in the ED 722 Economic Development Data Analytics and Theory course learn a modified REDRL approach to identify target industries and their location. Gazelle is then utilized to identify specific companies that are most likely to expand according to their G-score. The students also use Gazelle for their strategic planning community assessment to identify companies for business retention and expansion programs, those with plans to expand, and to identify companies at risk of leaving/downsizing.