Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and David Cohen, senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer for Comcast Corp., will join U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker on Wednesday in the Ford Center for Wicker’s fourth annual tech summit.
The summit will focus on the expansion of rural broadband and workplace diversity.
Wicker, the summit’s guest of honor, currently serves as chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet. He helped spearhead the first event in 2016.
The tech summit begins with registration at 8 a.m., followed by Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks opening the summit with welcoming remarks at 8:30.
Throughout the summit, leaders and representatives from companies including Verizon, AT&T, Facebook and Google will discuss how the tech industry can continue to benefit society and broadband.
Pai, a Trump appointee, was formerly Associate General Counsel at Verizon Communications.
In a change from prior summits, university students will deliver three-minute presentations, displaying research projects ongoing on campus.
Anna Katherine Burress, a pharmacy major, and Hannah Newbold, an integrated marketing communications major, will discuss catalyzing entrepreneurship in Mississippi using virtual reality.
Engineering major Olivia Lanum will present a talk about extracurricular leadership and professional experience.
Gunner Rhoden, a biochemistry major, and graduate instructor Silvio Valladao, who is studying exercise science, will be discussing physiological responses to esports.
Jim Barksdale, president of Barksdale Management Corp. and namesake of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, and Andy Lack, the chairman of NBC News and MSNBC, will close the event with a “Fireside chat.”
The event is free and open for anyone to attend.
