MACON — Undergraduates at Mercer University’s Macon campus will showcase what they’ve learned this year at a series of events over the coming week. Engineering students will present their projects and compete in colorful vehicle competitions at the Third Annual Engineering Expo at the University Center Arena on April 16. Meanwhile, students will also talk about their research projects at the Fourth Annual Mercer Undergraduate Research Symposium in Heritage Hall in the UC. Then, on Monday, the University will hold the inaugural Mercer Undergraduate Research Conference, featuring presentations from across the academic disciplines.
The Engineering Expo, an expansion of the annual School of Engineering Introduction to Engineering Design Competition, will be held in the University Center Arena. The event opens at 2:30 p.m. in the upper arena with showcases of engineering student organizations, senior design projects, honors projects, student-faculty research and other class projects. At 3 p.m., the attention will turn to the arena floor for the design competition, featuring teams of first-year students matching robotic vehicles in a variety of exciting and colorful competitions.
Also in the University Center, the Undergraduate Research Symposium begins at 2 p.m. in Heritage Hall, with 49 posters presented by 93 students from 12 departments across the University. The event concludes at 4 p.m. in the Presidents Dining Room with an awards ceremony and keynote address by Dr. Scott Huettel, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience and co-director of the Center for Neuroeconomic Studies at Duke University.
On Monday, the first-ever Mercer Undergraduate Research Conference takes place with students from across undergraduate disciplines presenting their research over 20 sessions. There will be 20 sessions at various locations across campus from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Each session will consist of three topical, rather than disciplinary, presentations of approximately 15 minutes each. The presentations are arranged under such themes as: Overcoming Inequality and Violence, Understanding Patterns in Society and Economics and Society in the Modern World.
The conference concludes with a plenary session at 7 p.m. in the Presidents Dining Room of the University Center. Dr. Andrew Silver, Hunter Associate Professor of English, will deliver the keynote address and Mercer Provost Dr. Wallace Daniel will hand out awards to the top presenters.
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