Mississippi State University is celebrating a groundbreaking achievement as Associate Professor Amy Dapper becomes the university’s first recipient of the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE, the highest U.S. government award for early-career scientists and engineers.

Ryan P. Semmes, historian and Mississippi State Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library research director examines the far-reaching implications of Reconstruction in his first book “Exporting Reconstruction: Ulysses S. Grant and a New Empire of Liberty.” The 2024 University of South Carolina Press publication is part of the organization’s “Reconstruction Reconsidered” series.

"Professor Joseph Thompson’s exploration of the longstanding ties between the U.S. military and country music doesn’t just help you rethink country music, but the ways in which America uses popular music to its own ends."