Between heading the Mississippi State University Department of Geosciences, where he studies areas of potential fire hazard, and playing music locally, Bill Cooke is a busy man.
Cooke took the interim department head position for Geosciences a year and a half ago, and will hold the position through June 30.
“I’ve been busy ever since,” Cooke said.
Cooke has an all-around cheery and gracious demeanor. His office is cluttered with books, papers and a bicycle.  He exchanges pleasantries as easily as he describes his Geographical Information Systems, a discipline he helped found at MSU. 
Cooke maps forest fires. He primarily identifies and maps places that are likely to suffer from forest fires, specifically those caused by humans.
He uses color coded maps to distinguish areas of potential fire hazard
“Here is an example,” he said. “These color identify areas that are at high risk. The red is the most likely, and we see it most intensely right outside the cities and along the roads. It follows the roads — fascinating stuff,” Cooke said.
Cooke said statistics show about 60 percent of forest fires are started by humans, whether it is by a campfire, controlled burn or a still-lit cigarette butt. Cooke primarily studies forest fires, but according to a former student, the study that really got him recognized was mapping West Nile Virus and hurricanes.
Richard Carley, former graduate student and work associate said Cooke is  doing groundbreaking work.
Carley was a student of Cooke’s who went on to do some graduate work with Cooke and currently works an internship with Carl Small Town Center, a function of the MSU Architecture Department in Columbus, Miss.
Carley said, “Cooke was always a very good teacher. He was helpful but was good at giving you the tools to learn on your own.” 
Praises like this echo from some of Cooke’s other students.
Carley worked on similar forest fire related mapping by looking at the effects the British Petroleum oil spill had on drying out marshlands and causing fires.
“We didn’t find anything,” Cook said with a laugh. “It would have been cool to blame BP for forest fires, but we could not find anything.”  
Besides his work in GIS, Cooke is also known for being a fairly prolific musician around the area. He primarily plays at Dave’s Darkhorse Tavern when he is in Starkville. 
Dave Hood, owner of the Tavern, said Cooke rocks Dave’s Darkhorse.
 “If there were a music Dojo in town, Bill Cooke would be the Sensei,” Hood said.
Caleb Childs, local guitar player with a number of acts in Starkville, said Cooke is the essential solo performer.
Keatzi Gunmoney, bassist and singer for local band Sipsy Fires, said it is rare to find a musician who can play with no accompaniment, with that much charisma, who is also approachable and talented.
“There is no doubt I have cut back, ”Cooke said. “Being the department head is a lot of work, but I still manage to play about every other week. Sometime you get gigs all at once, and then sometimes you can’t get gigs. It is very unpredictable and you cannot count on it.” 
Cooke said he mostly performs cover songs. 
“Lots of early Elvis, Texas Playboys and Carl Perkins,” he said. “When I was a tennis coach in Portugal, I played some gigs. They mostly just wanted to hear Elvis, which is understandable. John Lennon said that before Elvis, there was nobody.“
Cooke said he works on a solo album of originals.
“I have maybe four studio days left, but studio time is expensive,” he said. “I need to put these songs to rest so that I can stop listening to them and finding things wrong with them.” 
He laughed and added that his practicing sometimes drives his wife crazy.
“I try to practice a few minutes a day at least. I mostly do scales and play songs in different keys than they are written so I don’t always sound the same. Steve Morse said if people were going to pay to hear him play, they deserved the best he had to offer. So I try to stay sharp,” he said.
Bill Cooke teaches a graduate class on scientific philosophy and ethics, and he said he hopes to add more classes in the spring as his duties as interim department head wind down.