Mississippi Science Fest Tech Summit
On September 18, 2024, Great City Mississippi Foundation had the honor of organizing and hosting a Tech Summit, the latest addition to the Mississippi Science Fest. Great City Mississippi is thankful to C Spire and Amazon Web Services for co-sponsoring this event and to all the panelists and attendees for participating. We look forward to making the Tech Summit a part of the annual Mississippi Science Fest!
This event brought together leaders from the public and private sector including technologists, researchers, educators, community leaders, and government officials to discuss the future of artificial intelligence and investment in technology for Jackson and the State of Mississippi. The Tech Summit was broken down into several panels:
The Jackson Research Hub - A discussion about a collaborative AI-focused research hub located in Downtown Jackson that brings together all the state’s college research institutions, the federal government, and the private sector.
The Promise of Technology for the Current and Future Workforce - A conversation about adaptation to automation and training the existing and future workforce utilizing AI tools and encouraging more interdisciplinary collaboration.
Navigating the Role of Legislature in Emerging Technologies - A dialogue about how the government can incentivize and regulate growth in the AI and technology sector while also leveraging the investments to improve quality of life in our state.
Chip Pickering, CEO of INCOMPAS and Great City board member, joined Dr. ConSandra McNeil, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Jackson State University to lead a discussion on the idea of “The Jackson Research Hub.”
Pickering says, “We are now the digital crossroads with all of the infrastructure in place to create a technology research hub in Jackson.”
Dr. McNeil expressed the need to attract new residents and workers to the state and how we can change the perception of the capital city. She stated, “I think that having the research hub here in Mississippi, and especially in Jackson, and promoting STEM, promoting AI, would help us to attract new residents in the state with new faculty and students at Jackson State.”
Chip Pickering shared the role of Great City Mississippi Foundation, “Dr. McNeil, we want, as our foundation, to partner with Jackson State. We've been working over the years to support your strategic objective and plans to move to an R1. We see our role at Great City as being an advocate for our institutions that lead our city and state.”
The proposed research capabilities in Downtown Jackson could bring together the state’s university research institutions, attract new students, faculty, and residents, and provide a new form of economic growth for the city. Mississippi has three essential infrastructure elements that puts it ahead in the technology race:
Supercomputers - Mississippi has 2 federal research supercomputers that have some of the most computation capacity in the United States, with additional supercomputers located at universities.
Data Centers - Mississippi just received one of largest data center investments in the country from AWS, the project is a planned $10 billion investment and will create at least 1,000 high-paying, high-tech jobs.
Fiber Optic Network - Mississippi has miles of “dark fiber” or fiber that is not currently being used that was installed in the early 2000s by communication companies like C Spire. The fiber network runs from Atlanta to Dallas and New Orleans to Chicago.
In 2023, Great City Mississippi Foundation commissioned a study by the RAND corporation to research and evaluate the feasibility of an artificial intelligence-based research hub in Jackson, Mississippi. Follow the link below to read about their key findings and read the full study for more information.
The second panel discussion at the @mssciencefest Tech Summit, “The Promise of Technology for the Current and Future Workforce,” was moderated by Dr. Courtney Taylor, Executive Director at @acceleratems. The panel included Suzy Hays, President and CEO at @cspire, Dr. Nashlie Sephus, AI Scientist at @amazonwebservices and Founder & CEO of @thebeanpath, Pete Persson, Director of AI Planning & Delivery at @entergy, and Curt Schossler, Engineer at Canton Strategy Team at @nissan.
Panelists shared their experience of how they are guiding their team through the digital transformation and adapting to automation tools. Each leader mentioned the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. “In the era of technology, no one can do their job effectively alone. The only way to be effective is to work together,” said Suzy Hays. She mentioned C Spire’s “teams within teams” structure in an effort to create more productive collaboration between different parts of the business.
Dr. Nashlie Sephus followed up on helping the workforce to be open to change. “At AWS we talk about “changing the people culture”, if you don't change the mindset of the people, it's hard to execute any process change. And so if we're able to help people understand how this can benefit them but also keep them aware of the limitations and the challenges in the technology, it's a win-win.”
The panel agreed on the importance of teaching teamwork. Curt mentioned “We talked about educating our community, our children, and preparing them for a technical job. But one thing we need to make sure that we're teaching is teamwork. I can't tell you how many times we've had new people with zest and zeal start then they get frustrated and their project stalls. Time after time it's because they've tried to do it themselves. And they don't understand that they're part of a team.”
“Navigating the Role of Legislature in Emerging Technologies,” was the final panel topic at the @mssciencefest tech summit discussing how the state and local government can incentivize and regulate growth in emerging technology while also leveraging the investments to improve quality of life in our state. Panelists included Senator Bart Williams, Chairman, Senate Committee on Technology, Senator Bradford Blackmon, Vice-Chairman Senate Committee on Technology, Senator John Horhn, Chairman Senate Committee on Housing. Moderator Jason Dean initiated the panel discussion by talking about the importance of the “triple helix of innovation”, the idea of the private sector, legislature, and public institutions working together to advance social and economic opportunities.
Senator John Horhn provided several examples of successful initiatives that have showcased the triple helix concept. “In 1936, Mississippi led the country with the Balance Agriculture with Industry program. 50 years later we came up with the Major Economic Impact Authority (MEIA), and we've used it to attract projects like Nissan, Toyota, Yokohama, Continental tires, and now Amazon. I think right now is the time for us to pivot and focus on A.I. and innovation and come up with an updated incentive system. The MEIA was a revolutionary program where there was a public-private sector partnership that was developed largely around infrastructure supported by the state.” Senator Horhn also stated, “I think the role of the government is to (1) Decide who we want to attract (2) How are we going to attract them (3) How do we keep our people here and have them well trained? Within two years of graduation, 40% of our graduates leave Mississippi. We have got to figure out how we can keep more of them here in the metro area.”
Senator Bradford Blackmon stated, “Many transplants have now moved back to Mississippi because your dollar goes further here than anywhere else in the country, and people are starting to realize that.”
Senator Bart Williams followed up on how state leadership can help population attraction and retention, “The four pillars: public health, healthcare, education, and infrastructure. Those are the things we as a government have a tremendous responsibility to do and try to execute them as well as we can.”
To conclude the @mssciencefest Tech Summit, special guest speaker Dr. Calvin Mackie, Founder & CEO at @stemnola gave an inspiring keynote, “Today’s Tinkerers are Tomorrow’s Innovators.” After serving as Professor of Engineering at Tulane University for over a decade, Dr. Mackie and his wife started STEM NOLA, a non-profit organization focused on exposing, inspiring and engaging communities in learning about opportunities in STEM.
Dr. Mackie shared his passion for inspiring the next generation and providing better access to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. “If we work together, I believe we can change an entire generation. We've got to be committed to exposing our children to STEM from cradle to career. This solution doesn't start at the schoolhouse door. As a matter of fact, we live in a nation right now that makes sure our boys, especially black and brown boys, before the age of 4, touch a football or basketball before they get to school. We live in a nation right now with a million kids playing sports every Saturday, hoping and dreaming and believing that one day they'll get drafted and be one of the 60 that become millionaires.”
“My dream is to have a million kids everywhere in this country every Saturday doing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with their hands. Hoping and dreaming and believing that one day that they're going to create something. And one day they'll be one of the 14 million millionaires in this world or one of the 2,750 billionaires in this world such that they've created an innovation and economy such that they can transform their own community. Mississippi, can you dream that with me?”
STEM NOLA is a national leader in the design and delivery of STEM-based activities, programs and events to K-12 students, families, and communities. Participants in STEM NOLA programs receive a unique and interactive learning experience that allows learners of all ages to strengthen their knowledge in STEM studies, gain confidence in their abilities and chart a course for career opportunities in STEM fields. Since 2013, STEM NOLA has engaged over 125,000+ students, mostly under-served low-income students, in hands-on STEM project-based learning.