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Morgan State Getting Attention of Md. Lawmakers With Newest Innovations

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Taking a lead in technology. Morgan State University gets the attention of lawmakers in Annapolis, with a look at its newest innovations.

Pat Warren reports it's a curriculum for life.

Electrical circuits in aircraft ejection seats saved the life of Tom Cannon's son when the engine failed in the plane he was flying.

"He was the first to be ejected. They call it the first to go and the last to know," said Cannon.

An innovative approach to get people to stop smoking is changing habits in Baltimore communities.

"The statistics in Baltimore are such that, by a factor of five, smoking is the number one killer, particularly of black and Latino men," said Victor McCrary, Morgan research and development.

Projects to improve the health of the bay and the oyster population are making strides.

It's the all-round excellence in science, technology, engineering and math that Morgan State University is presenting to the public Thursday.

"We are trying not to be the best kept secret in the state," said Dr. David Wilson, Morgan State University president.

"You take undergraduate students, not just graduate students, and you put them in the laboratory with professors and they work on joint innovative projects," he continued. "And those are the students that go on to graduate school, they go on to professional school, they become our scientists and engineers and planners of the future."

Here's one of those future planners now...

"For instance, one development could have a whole roof that's like a turtle dome where solar panels would go around the whole entire roof, which follow the sun through the rotation of the day to get the maximum amount of sunlight for energy," said Akeem Stephenson, environmental engineering student.

The vision at Morgan is to be the premiere public urban research university in the state.

This is Morgan's fifth annual innovation day, bringing new projects and developments to Annapolis every year.

Morgan is one of four historically black colleges and universities in the state.

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