A senior research associate at Mississippi State University who formerly lived in Vicksburg has received the National Cotton Ginners Association’s Distinguished Service Award.

Eugene Columbus was presented the award in San Antonio on Feb. 5. The award is given to those who have provided a career of distinguished service to the U.S. ginning industry.

Columbus earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MSU. From 1966 to 1974 he worked at USDA Ginning Laboratories in Stoneville and Lubbock, Texas. From 1974 until 1980 he worked as a civil engineer with the Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg. He then returned to the lab in Stoneville until 1995. He returned to MSU, where he developed the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department’s Ginning Technology curriculum, including fabrication of the facility’s micro gin.

The NCGA was chartered in 1937 and is the umbrella organization over eight state and regional associations. The Southern Cotton Ginners Association includes Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana and is based in Memphis.