Editor's picks

The region’s daily newspapers have some stories I recommend as part of your Sunday reading if you’re interested in science and technology activities in this region. They cover topics including shipbuilding, aerospace, advanced materials and marine science.

Since this is an aerospace blog, let me first point out a story by Bill Kaczor of the Associated Press, who writes from Tallahassee about a fascinating advanced material called “buckypaper,” which may have huge implications for the aerospace industry, as well as other industries. The story appears in the Pensacola News Journal, and likely other publications. (Story)

Reporter Thomas Monigan of the Northwest Florida Daily News writes about a leadership conference in Walton County where the future of air travel was discussed, and how that might impact three airports in Northwest Florida. (Story)

Two other stories I recommend are about shipbuilding, an increasingly high-tech industrial sector. Mobile Press Register reporter Kaija Wilkinson writes about Bayou La Batre, Ala., boat builders, and how they have charted a new course since Hurricane Katrina nearly wiped them out. (Story)

Mobile Press-Register reporter Jeff Amy writes about the shipbuilding training consortium that was formed to help address the problem of finding workers for one of the key industries of this region. The Gulf Coast Shipbuilders Consortium is spearheaded by Alabama two-year college officials. (Story)

And finally, I must point out a story in the Biloxi Sun Herald. The newspaper reprinted a story I wrote for Alliance Insight, a quarterly newsletter of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic Development, about the Northern Gulf Institute, a research organization at Mississippi's Stennis Space Center. (Story)