Mississippi Computational Biology Consortium (MCBC) Building Capability and Collaborative Networks in Computational Biology Research Leaders: Raphael Isokpehi Jackson State University

Dawn Wilkins University of Mississippi

Frank Moore University of Southern Mississippi Joe Zhang

Susan Bridges Mississippi State University Shane Burgess Current NSF EPSCoR GranGrant t (2006‐2009): Interrelated Research Focus Areas in Computational Sciences

Computational Biology MSU, JSU, USM

Education & Outreach

Computational Chemistry Computational Modeling of Biological Systems JSU, UM, USM UMMC, JSU, MSU Current NSF EPSCoR Grant (2006‐2009): Aim

• EtEstablishing national prominence in computational sciences research by bildibuilding on the State's exitiisting strengths in high performance computing. Current NSF EPSCoR Grant (2006‐2009): S pecifi c GlGoals ‐‐ 1

• (1) i ncrease the Sta te ' s research capacity by – (a) recruit ~12 outstanding faculty with competitive stttart‐up packages (~$100K/year ), – (b) support and mentor new and existing faculty in interdisciplinary computational sciences research, and (c) enhance the computational sciences infrastructure with new equipment and support staff Current NSF EPSCoR Grant (2006‐2009): Specific Goals – 2 to 5 • (2) expand the collaboration among MRC institutions and outside llbaborator ies; • (3) increase opportunities for women and underrepresen te d groups in th e selltdected researc h areas; • (4) increase the number of participating graduate students and their interface with K‐12 students and teachers; and • (5) foster state economic development through new intellectual pppropert y and its commercialization. Motivation for Investment in Computational Biology

• Biosc i ence thtechno logy will b e major didriver of the economy in the 21st century • Modern bioscience requires – High throughput bioscience technologies – High performance distributed computation • Mississippi has embryonic and unique niche at the intersection of biology and high p erformance computation Goals of Computational Bio logy • Grow fledgling programs in computational biology by hiring new faculty into tenure track positions

• Build a national prominence in computational biology through increased interaction and collaboration among scientists

• Attract and train the best and brightest undergraduate, graduate, and post doctoral students in the state

• Increase opportunities for underrepresented groups

• Expand the STEM pppipeline by outreach to teachers EPSCoR Strategies

• Invest in human capital: Hire (5) new tenure ‐track faculty in computational biology • Jump start research: Establish a seed grant ppgrogram to facilitate generation of preliminary data for grant proposals • Build a state‐wide network: Develop practices that facilitate communication and collaboration • Train undergraduates and teachers: Work with education component Status: InvestmentInv estmen t in Human Capital

• Dr. Robert Diehl, Biological Sciences, USM – Ph .D. from University of Illinois – NSF Postdoctoral fellowship at USM

• Dr. Raphael Isokpehi, Biological Sciences, Jackson State University – Ph.D. from University of Lagos, Nigeria – Post Doc at South African National Bioinformatics Institute

• Dr. Bindu Nanduri, Veterinaryy Medicine, MSU – Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas Little Rock – Post Doc at University of Medicine and Dentistry, NYC and Mississippi State

• Dr. Andy Perkins , Computer Science and Engr., MSU – Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee

• USM to hire faculty member this spring in Biological Sciences Additional Investment in Human Capital

New Hires New to Comp Biology • USM • USM – Jonathan Sun – Nan Wang, CS – Preetam Ghosh, CS • JSU – Shahid Karim, Biologgcical Sciences – Hari Cohly (Biology) • JSU – Tzusheng Pei (CS) – H. Anwar Ahmad, Biology – Natarajan Meghanathan (CS) • Ole Miss – Sungbum Hong (CS) – Mohammed Ali (CS) – Yixin Chen, CS – Wellington K. Ayensu (Biology) • MSU – Changhe Yuan, CSE • MSU – Song Zhang, CSE – TJ JkJankun ‐KllKelley (CSE) – Fiona McCarthy, Vet Med – Ed Swan (CSE) – Yogi Dandass (CSE) – Mahalingam Ramkumar (CSE) Status: Jump Start Research

• Seed grant funding of $75,000 per year – $25,000 to each university – Each university determined how to award funds – Criteria • Sound science • Multidisciplinary combining computation and biology • Potential to lead to competitive funding • Year 1 funds: Multidisciplinary research • Year 2 funds: Must include faculty from at least two MS campuses • Year 3 funds: Must include faculty from at least two MS campuses 2006‐2007 Seed Grants

• Dynamic spatio-temporal modeling of plant invasion PIs: G. Ervin (Biology) and S. Oppenheimer (Math), MSU

• Environmental stress-mediated regulation of cellular metal ion and water transport: From sequence to text mining PIs: R. Isokpehi (Biology), H. Cohly (Biology), T. Pei (CS), and B. Wilson (Biol ogy), JSU

• Parallel multi-class support vector machine for solving large -scale classification problems in computational biology and bioinformatics PIs: Y. Deng (Biology), R. Diehl (Biology), and J. Zhang (CS) , USM Outcomes from 2006‐2007 Seed Grants • Ervin and Oppenheimer (MSU): – 2 poster presentations at national meetings – Journal article in progress – Proposal submitted and funded USDA National Research Initiative, $100,300 (2 years) • IkIsokpe hi, C ohlPhly, Pei, andWild Wilson (JSU): – 4 poster presentations – 2 journal articles in preparation – Award of NIH Research Funding as component of RCMI Center for Environmental Health • Deng, Diehl, Zhang (USM): – 1 journal article accepted – 4 poster presentations – Diehl has received funding from USGS and his preliminary research will contribute to his NSF Career Award application in the coming year 2007‐2008 Seed Grants

• Systems analysis of Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4 response to iron restriiiction using tili ng DNA microarrays PIs: B. Nanduri (CVM) MSU collaborating with E. Swiatlo, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Division of Infectious Diseases

• Text mining for cellular localization of mammalian aquaporins PIs: H. Cohly (i(Biology) JSU and Co‐PI R. Rajnarayanan, Tougaloo College

• Inferring gene regulatory networks from time‐ series microarray data PIs: M. Pirooznia (Biology), Y. Deng (Biology), and C. Zhang (CS), USM in Collaboration with Dr. Ed Perkins, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS. Outcomes from 2007 -2008 Seed Grants • Nanduri and Swiatlo (MSU and UMMC): – 1 published manuscript (Proteomics, 2008, 8(10): 2104‐14) – 2 manuscripts in preparation – Submitted one proposal to MFGN – Will submit a proposal to NIH in October 2008 • Cohly and Rajnarayanan (JSU, Tougaloo): – 1 Publication (Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2008, 5(2), 115‐119) – 3 Abstracts at 5th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research – Grant submitted to Department of Homeland Security on Visual Analytics – Grant submitted to NSF on Biological Responses to English as Second Language • Pirooznia, Deng, Zhang and Perkins (USM, ERDC): 1 publication accepted (Proceedings of the Fifth Annual MCBIOS Conference) – 2 manuscripts in preparation – Submitted one proposal to MFGN, one NIH submission – 3 poster and oral presentations – Zhang received funding from US Army ERDC in 2008 2008‐2009 Seed Grants

• Applying network analysis to study novel antifungal compounds and host response to bacterial infection PIs: Dr. Bin du NdNanduri (MSU) in colla bora tion with Dr. Amee ta Agarwal, National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi

• Bioinformatics tools categorizer Dr. Natarajan Meghanathan (Department of Computer Science, Jackson State University), and DrDr.. Raphael D. Isokpehi (Department of Biology, Jackson State University)

• Developpging intelli gent algorithms to mine biological data from weather radar archives. Dr. Robb Diehl (USM Department of Biological Sciences) and Dr. Joe Zhang (USM School of Computing). Participant Number RESEARCH WORKSHOP Graduate Student 16 NOVEMBER 14, 2007 @ Undergraduate Student 5 UiUnivers ity Faculty 16 Mississippi JSU E‐Center 37 Identification of novel non-coding small RNAs in S. pneumoniae TIGR4 genome Non- coding RNAs • Genetically encoded (intergenic regions) • Major regulators in adaptive response, translational quality control, acid resistance, homeostasis, regulating virulence Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4 • Gram positive pathogen that causes a number of infections in humans including acute sinusitis, otitis media, meningitis. • One of the top ten causes of mortality in the US in 2003. • Identification of genomic elements is crucial for understanding pathogen’s biology and developing therapi es. Analysis pipeline Approach: High Density Tiling arrays Results

• Identified 50 sRNAs identified (four encode novel genes) • Length ranges from 74 - 480 nucleotides with two-third being shorter than 200 bp • A number of predicted sRNA targets are known virulence factors in pneumococcus

C1

C2

Interaction network of sRNAs and their predicted target genes

C3 19 sRNA-target interaction in virulence Phylogram of sRNAs Gene Regulatory Network Reconstruction in CBBL (USM) • Inferring Gene Regulatory Network of Yeast Cell‐Cycle using Dynamic Bayesian Network – We have applied a model of dynamic Bayesian networks to a benchmark dataset of yeast cell‐cycle, constructed gene regulatory networks, and compared the inferred networks with previously established gene regulatory relationships. • DREAM3 In‐Silico‐Network Challenge – Reverse engineering of gene networks from the in silico generated steady state and time series gene expression datasets. – The USM CBBL team ranked the second place among 40 teams from 10 countries. • Reconstruction of Gene Regulatory Networks from Time Series Fish Ovary Microarray Data using Dynamic Bayesian Network – The fish ovary gene regulatory networks with 319 genes have been reconstructed from real biological time series expression data using dynamic Bayesian network. Gene Regulatory Network Reconstruction in CBBL (USM) • Inferring Gene Regulatory Networks using Expectation‐Maximization Algorithms and Kalman Filter – We used the expectation‐maximization algorithms and kalman filter to solve the equations based on state space model to infer gene regulatory networks. The approach is evaluated using a benchmark synthetic dataset which is generated from Escherichia coli. • Inference of Gene Regulatory Networks Using the Predictive Minimum Description Length Principle and Conditional Mutual Information. – We proposed an inference algorithm which implements mutual ifinformation (MI) , conditional mutltual ifinformation (CMI) and predictive minimum description length (PMDL) principle to infer gene regulatory networks from microarray data. • NSF EPSCoR related publications and activities in 2008 – One journal paper, three conference papers, six oral presentations and two posters – Dr. Joe Zhang is the Program Committee Chair of the IJCBS’09 conference and was the Vice Chair of the BioComp ’08 conference Building classification algorithms to identify biological targets in weather radar data

Unclassified radar data shows precipitation as shades of pink / purple. Targ ets more likely to be biological are in shades of green.

Classified data are scored as either biological (blue) or non-biological (brown).

• Weather radars are proven biological instruments with applications that range from aiding in infectious disease tracking to monitoring the pace of climate change.

• Use of these data has been limited by the enormous size of the radar data archive and interspersed nature of biological and non‐biological echoes.

• Biologists and computer scientists are collaborating to bldbuild data mining and classification algorithms that can efficiently and accurately subset the data archive into useful biological data sets. Integrative Analysis of Mammalian and Chicken Aqqpuaporins for Function Beyond Water Transport

Raphael D. Isokpehi1, Hari H.P. Cohly1, Cynthia D. Jeffries1, Tolulola O. Oyeleye1, Rajendram V Rajnarayanan2

1Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Department of Biology Jackson State University Jackson, Mississippi

2Department of Chemistry Tougaloo College Jackson, Mississippi AQP11

AQP12

Visualization of comparison of suggested body site expression of UniGene data for human (h), mouse (m), rat (r), and chicken (c) aquaporins RESULTS : EVOLUTION OF LOCALIZATION MOTIF Bos taurus MGRQKELVNRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Microcebus murinus MGRQKELVSRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Equus caballus MGRQKELVSRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 E rinace us e ur opae us MGRQKELVTRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Oryctolagus cuniculus MGRQKELVSRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Canis familiaris MGRQKELVSRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Myotis lucifugus MGRQKELVNRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Homo sapiens MGRQKELVSRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Pan troglodytes MGRQKELVSRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Macaca mulatta MGRQKELMSRCGEMLHIRHRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Mus musculus MGRQKELMNRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Rattus norvegicus MGRQKELMNRCGEMLHIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Monodelphis domestica MGRQKELVSRCGDLLRIRYRLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSR 50 Ornithorhynchus anatinus MGRQKELLSRCGEMLRIRYKLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVILSR 50 Gallus gallus MGRQKDVLATIEEHLRIRNKLVRQALAECLGTLILVLFGCGSVAQIVLSR 50 Xenopus tropicalis MGRQKDFINKCNQLLRLRNKLLRQALSECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQVVLSK 50 Takifugu rubripes MGRQKVYLEKLSHFFQIRNLLIRQGLAECLGTLILVMFGCGAVAQLVLSK 50 Tetraodon nigroviridis MGRQKVYLEKLSHFFQIRNLLIRQGLAECLGTLVLVMFGCGAVAQLVLSK 50 Gasterosteus aculeatus MGRHKFYLDKLSRFFQIRNLLLRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGSVAQLVLSG 50 Oryzias latipes MSRQKIILDKLARTFQIRNKLLRQSLAECLGTLILVMFGCGACAQHVLSE 50 Danio rerio 1 MGWQKSVLDKLAQTFQIRNKLLRQGLAECLGTLILVMFGCGSLAQLKLSE 50 Danio rerio 2 MGRQKVILEKMARIFQIRNMLMRQALAECLGTLILVMFGCGALAQHILSG 50 : *:**.*:******:**:****: ** **

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus:::* ), a beaked mammal whose females lay eggs, had an YKLL motif aligned to the NKLV motif of the chicken sequence. *. :* RESULTS: EVOLUTION OF LOCALIZATION MOTIF

The platypusplatypus (OrnithorhOrnithorhynchusy nchus anatinus), a beaked mammal whose females lay eggs, had an YKLL motif aligned to the NKLV motif of the chicken sequence. Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Tools

Developer: Tolulola Oyeleye Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Tools

Developer: Matthew Anyanwu

Developer: Mehdi Pirooznia

Developer: Mehdi Pirooznia Status: Build a State‐Wide Network

• Mississippi Computational Biology Consortium (MCBC) – Steering Committee Chair rotates each year – Steering Committee monthly meetings to evaluate ppgrogress and map plans • MCBC Website (http://mcbc.usm.edu/) • Meet twice per year with student oral and poster presentations • MCBIOS (MidSouth Computational Biology Society) – Establishing a Mississippi chapter – Dawn Wilkins of UM was president of MCBIOS in 2008‐2009 – D eng (USM) , BidBridges (MSU) , and IkIsokpe hi (JSU) el ected to MCBIOS B oard of Directors – UM, JSU, MSU, & USM presentations at MCBIOS 2006—2009 – Mississippi students have won awards for best poster/presentation at all MCBIOS meetings – Mississippi hosted the annual meeting in 2009 • Moving forward with sharing of coursework via distance learning MidSouth ComputComputationalational Biology and Bioinformatics Society (MCBIOS)

• Faculty and graduate students represented the MCBC at the Fourth Annual Conference of the MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society, Feb. 2, 2007, New Orleans, Louisiana MidSouth ComputComputationalational Biology and Bioinformatics Society (MCBIOS)

• Faculty and graduate students represented the MCBC at the Fourth Annual Conference of the MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society, Feb. 2008, Oklahoma City, OK MCBIOS 2009 Indication of the Growth of our Networks

• Four research universities in Mississippi hosted MCBIOS 2009 at Mississippi State at the Hunter Henry Center • 140 attendees from ten states • 68 attendees from Mississippi • Dawn Wilkins and Susan Bridges were co‐chairs • Raphael Isokpehi was chair of student activities – Employer panel – Speed networking event • Andy Perkins and Bindu Nanduri were poster co‐chairs – Record number (80) poster presentations – ERDC provided poster and presentation awards MCBIOS 2009 Speed Networking Event Computational Biology Education and Outreach

• Summer workshops for K‐12 teachers • Support for undergraduate research • Development of competitive proposals to support computational biology education Andy Lindeman MSU, Computer Science Junior Presentation at REU symposium Poster accepted at IEEE InfoViz 2007

Christopher Nevels JSU, Biology Junior Presentation at Tougaloo College Applied to Graduate School at JSU Prize Winner at Mississppi Academy of Sciences Meeting

Joe Buza Some of our MSU, Bioengineering Freshman undergraduate Presentation at REU symposium researchers Poster Presentation by High School Student (Christina Bernard) of the Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (JSU) at the 6th Annual Conference of MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society. Student also presented at MSEF-Region II Science Fair and won Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award ($200) Awards Proposals for Educational Funding

• JSU received funding for Bioinformatics in Biodefense Career Development Program ($500 ,000) from Homeland Security – Majority of the funds to provide scholarship and fellowships – Support for 7 undergraduate and 2 graduate students

• USM received funding from the Education Department and the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute selected USM pilot collaborators for the Undergraduate Research Program in Microbial Genome Annotation

• MSU submitted GAANN proposal for funding of Graduate Fellowships (Department of Education)

• MSU submitted Minority Graduate Fellowships in Agricultural Genomics and Bioinformatics at MSU (USDA National Needs Program). Not funded but resubmission underway

• Undergraduate Research and Mentoring in the Biological Sciences—collaboration with MSU and 6 HBCUs including JSU (not funded has been resubmitted) JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY BIOINFORMATICS & COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY GROUP Summer Internship for High School Students (June 2007)

Stedman A. is now Freshman at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

High School Students (First Row L‐R): Bharat Agrawal, Melody Jones and Stedman Ashley. Back Row (L‐R): Dr Hari Cohly, Cynthia Jeffries (Graduate Student Mentor) and Dr. Raphael D. Isokpehi Goal: Increase the number of participating graduate students and their interface with K-12 students and teachers; Cynthia Jeffries, ORNL

Cynthia Jeffries is involved in annotation of microbial genomes Juanquina Thomas, NBACC

Juanquina Thomas is involved in sequencing of isolates of biothreat pathogen Jackson State University Bioinformatics in Biodefense Program at DHS University Summit, Washington DC (March 20, 2008) JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY BIOINFORMATICS AWARENESS MONTH WOMEN IN SCIENCE SEMINAR SPEAKER: DR NINA FEFFERMAN, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY Encouraging Women Scientists

Goal: Increase opportunities for women and underrepresented groups in the selected research areas; VISUAL ANALYTICS & DISCRETE MATHEMATICS FOR HOMELAND SECURITY JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY IS PART OF THE DHS COE FOR COMMAND CONTROL AND INTEROPERABILITY National Prominence (Exam p le) )(

2008-2009 Pilot Project Award

Membership of Scientific Program Committee & Session Chair BOARD MEMBERSHIP OF MIDSOUTH BIOINFORMATICS & COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY SOCIETY (As of January 2009) Dawn Wilkins [U Miss] (Current/5th Pres) 2010 Stephen Winters-Hilt [U New Orleans] (3rd Pres) Susan B rid ges [Mi ss St at e] 2010 Ulisses Braga-Neto [Texas A&M] 2009 Doris Kupfer [FAA] {Oklahoma} 2011 James Fuscoe [FDA/NCTR] {Arkansas} 2009 Bill Slikker [FDA/NCTR] {Arkansas} (2nd Pres) Dan Berleant [UALR] {Arkansas} (Pres Elect/6th Pres) Raphael Isokpehi [Jackson State] {Miss} 2011 Stephen Winters-Hilt [U New Orleans] (3rd Pres) Alt Email Johnathan Wren [ORMF] {Oklahoma} (Past/4th Pres) 200 Steve Jennings [UALR] {Arkansas} (1st Pres) Youping Deng [U Southern Miss] 2010

National Prominence (Example) International Prominence (Examp le)

Avian Genomes Conference & Gene Ontology Workshop May 2008

Organizers: Susan Bridges Shane Burgess Institute of Digital Biology, Mississippi State University International Prominence (Examp le)

International Joint Conferences on Bioinformatics, Systems Biology and Intelligent Computing (IJCBS'09) Shanghai, China August 3‐6, 2009. http://www.isibm.org/IJCBS/index.html

Chaoyang (Joe) Zhang , PhD IJCBS'09 Program Committee Chair Associate Professor and Interim Director School of Computing University of Southern Mississippi International Prominence (Exam p le )( ) Goal: Foster state economic development through new intellectual property and its commercialization. Technology and Informatics Luncheon & Speed Networking for Small Business and Higher Education

Friday, April 24, 2009 (11.00am – 3.00pm) at Mississippi E- Center @ JSU 1230 Raymond Road, Jackson MS 39204 Invited Luncheon Speakers: Sterling Nichols Office of Small Business and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Department of Energy, Washington DC Howard Bilofsky, PhD Vice-President of Integromics™ Inc., Senior Fellow, School of Engineering and Applied Science of the University of Pennsylvania former Senior Executive at GlaxoSmithKline The Speed Networking Event will provide a unique opportunity for participants to rapidly meet potential collaborators and business partners.

Further Information and Registration (by Friday April 17, 2009): Angelique C. Lee, Program Coordinator, Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS [email protected] 601-979-0328 New NSF EPSCoR Proposal DiDesign to Add ress BiBarriers to bibarriers to estblitablis hing nationally competitive multidisciplinary research teams

• Recruitment of new faculty, development of younger faculty, and retention of experienced facu lty • Key research areas is comprised primarily of small and geographically dispersed groups , making inter‐ institutional and interdisciplinary collaborations more difficult. • The need for added statewide connectivity, financial resources to upg rade and purchase research equipment and limited financial resources at the state level. New NSF EPSCoR Proposal Modeling and Simulation of Complex Systems • Status – Submitted in fall 2008 – Responded to issues raised by NSF in January 2009 • Three Focus Areas: – Multi‐scale simulation of Biological Systems (BioSim) – Modeling of Biological Networks (CompBio) – Modeling and Simulation of Nanoscale Chemistry (CompChem) • Includes funding for research, computational infrastructure, seed grant funding • Integrated education, outreach, and workforce development effort across three focus areas.

Goals • Expanded infrastructure • Expanded integration across focus areas Computational Biology Research Activities Systems Biology Approaches: Experiment , Bioinformatics and Computation

System Forward Model error source (Deterministic) Controls System of Gene Regulation Dynamic System System state (Stochastic) (desired but unknown)

Measuring Inverse Model (State estimate and Estimate of devices Observed parameter learning) learning) measurements system state Measurement Update GRNs error source Prior knowledge

Biological system and measurement GRN reconstruction model Bayesian Learning and Optimization (BLO) Model Joe Zhang et al. (University of Southern Mississippi) Relevance of Proposed CompBio Research

Workshop Report Published in March 2009 Opportunities for Workforce Development The Mississippi Workforce • Mississippi’s population is 2.9 million. • The population increases about 20,000 annually, 0.7 %. • The workforce is 1.3 million. • On average, 80,000 people are unemployed, about 6.2%. • There i s es ti ma te d to b e near lly 70, 000 peop le o f wor ki ng age w h o are no t par tic ipa ti ng in the workforce. This percentage is one of the highest in the nation. • 73% of working age Mississippians have a high school education or higher. • 17% of working ageg Mississ sppaippian s have bachelors deggerees or higher. • 5.8% of working age Mississippians have graduate or professional degrees • 20.9% of working age Mississippians have some college but no degree. • 5.7% of working age Mississippians have an associate degree. • MiiiMississipp ihi has the l owes ttit nationa l wa ge – 400, 000 fu ll ti me wor k ers ma ke be tween $5.15 and $9.50 per hour • 180,000 workers are employed in manufacturing.

Source: Mississippi State Workforce Investment Board Summary • Computational biology capabilities in Mississippi have undergone exponential growth since the first EPSCoR funding in 2006. • Human infrastructure at all four state research universities is greatly expanddded. • We can accomplish more by collaborating than by competing. • Focus for the coming 5 years will be to: – Enhance research capability and integration of activities – Greater involvement of state HBCUs – Greater focus on workforce development