The State of Mississippi and NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) renewed the Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (RSAA) and management agreement between the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology (MSET) and the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) for the MS Tech Transfer Office and Incubator. MSET has been operating the incubator at SSC since its inception in 1994.  RSAAs with various partners allow NASA to advance its mission and program objectives, including international cooperative space activities. The new five-year agreement with MSET facilitates regional economic development by leveraging the resources of Stennis Space Center, the State, and the region to foster business opportunities among public and private entities.

There are various sources for graduate student assistantships - the graduate school, grants, and external contracts. Graduate research assistants work 20 hours per week on actual economic development research projects and in return receive a monthly stipend, 9-13 hour graduate tuition waiver, and basic health insurance. The assistantships require that a student be accepted into the program, enroll in 12 hours of course work in the fall and spring, and work 20 hours per week. Activity in non-credit department developmental activities (e.g., the Student Economic Development Association (SEDA), network tailgating, Mississippi Economic Development Council (MEDC) conferences, guest speaker presentations, workshops, etc.) is expected. The graduate assistantships are awarded on a competitive basis. The first round of graduate assistantship positions have been filled, but opportunities still remain, but not for long. For more information contact Dr. Chad Miller at [email protected]. 

The Master of Science in Economic Development program has five specific scholarships established by the economic development community to assist worthy students enrolled in the master's degree program in economic development. These include the   Rhodes and Ingram Economic Development Scholarship Endowment, Munro Petroleum Scholarship Endowment, the J oe Johnson Memorial Endowment in Economic Development, the C. Caruthers Sullivan, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Endowment, and Margaret Wilson Luce/Mississippi Export Railroad Scholarship. This year's winners include: Brandon Nettles, Conner Miller, and Joe Azar. 

Mississippi has numerous avenues for companies to discover new inventions and technologies created by universities and federal laboratories. One such example is at Stennis Space Center. Duane Armstrong manages NASA's technology development and technology transfer programs at Stennis. The technology development program provides an array of competitive funding opportunities to create innovative solutions to meet NASA needs. NASA's technology transfer program has approximately 1,000 free software tools and 1,000 patents available for licensing. Three licensing options are offered:  evaluation, startup, and commercial. Evaluation licenses are an inexpensive way to learn to use a new technology, but no commercial uses are allowed. Startup licenses provide generous terms and conditions for a startup and allow sales based on the technology, but do not provide exclusivity. Commercial licenses also allow sales and offer partial-to-fully exclusive rights to protect the investment in intellectual property. For more information, go to:  https://technology.ssc.nasa.gov/ .