MSU Vicksburg-based engineer and grad student receives multi-state award

Diane Hammond (left), president of Gulf Region Intelligent Transportation Society, congratulates Emily Salmon-Wall (right) for her GRITS scholarship. (Photo submitted)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A ��ɫ��Ƶ research engineer based in Vicksburg who also is a graduate student is receiving a regional honor recognizing her academic and community service achievements.

Emily Salmon-Wall works at the Institute for Systems Engineering Research, a collaborative effort between the university and U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. Her research focuses on enhancing the viability of specific products made by Mississippi companies.

A former Tupelo resident, Wall is among five from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi receiving 2017 scholarships from the Gulf Region Intelligent Transportation Society—GRITS, for short.

While employed in the historic river city, the 2015 summa cum laude MSU graduate in industrial and systems engineering is pursuing an online master’s degree in the Bagley College of Engineering.

Presenting annual awards of up to $1,500 each, GRITS was founded in 2009 as a three-state chapter of the Washington, D.C.-based Intelligent Transportation Society of America. Members work to provide government, academic and private sector agencies with improved access to advanced transportation technologies. For more, see .

Outside of work and course study, Wall regularly devotes personal time to a local women’s shelter, as well as to Vicksburg Young Professionals, a group supporting personal growth, networking and community service activities for residents ages 21-40.

Additionally, she teaches introductory engineering at both Vicksburg and Warren Central high schools. With academic credit transferring to either MSU or nearby Alcorn State University, her classes cover the basics of chemical engineering, while providing surveys of other engineering career disciplines.

Steve Puryear, a GRITS board member and a senior research associate at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems Extension Office in Canton, said Wall’s scholarship is a formal recognition of both her scholastic talents and dedication to helping others.

“Grade-point-average only accounts for 10 percent of our consideration,” Puryear said of the scholarship program. “Effective communication in the essay portion, along with involvement with programs in the community, school clubs, organizations and beyond, prove that a student is concerned with more than just grades.”

Wall said she is “grateful and honored to receive this recognition, and the scholarship will help me cover expenses like supplies and distance-learning fees.” After completing the graduate degree in the spring, “I plan to continue with my studies and eventually get my doctorate in industrial engineering,” she added.

When an undergraduate on the Starkville campus, Wall was tapped for membership in Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society. She also was a consistent inclusion on the President’s Scholars List, among other academic recognitions.

MSU is the state’s leading university, available online at .

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