—Pierce, “Youth Poetry Writing Workshop,” 10:45 a.m., Galloway Tween Room; “Mississippi Youth Poetry Project,” 2:45 p.m., State Capitol 201A; “Book Signing,” 4:15 p.m., book signing tent. —Foreman, “Mississippi Culture,” 2:45 p.m., State Capitol 103; “Book Signing,” 4:15 p.m., book signing tent.

Mississippi State University faculty members are leading a statewide effort to advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in rural school districts with the support of a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program.

Mississippi State’s new head of the Department of Chemistry in the university’s College of Arts and Sciences originally hails from England, but most recently was a University of Texas at Arlington faculty member with more than 20 years of experience in organic chemistry and biochemistry.