MACON — Mercer University’s School of Engineering begins its celebration of National Engineers Week a day early with a leadership conference today. The School will celebrate with several events throughout the remainder of the week on the Macon campus, concluding with a MathCounts competition for area middle school teams on Feb. 26. There will also be a lecture by the head of Georgians for Passenger Rail on Monday and a lecture by Mercer alumna Audrey Norvell on Friday.
The Mercer Young Leaders Conference begins at 10 a.m. in the Peyton Anderson Auditorium of the Science and Engineering Building and is co-sponsored by Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. Solange C. Dao, a civil engineer and vice president of Tau Beta Pi will conduct the workshop for Mercer engineering students. Dao is the owner of DAO Consultants, with more than over 16 years of experience in site planning, utility design, and master planning of storm water management facilities throughout the State of Florida. She is also a certified trainer in leadership, teamwork, and communication skills. She will present sessions on leadership, learning, motivation, public speaking and influence. Tickets for the event are sold out.
On Monday, Mercer’s School of Engineering and the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers are co-sponsoring a luncheon with a presentation by Gordon Kenna, chief executive officer of Georgians for Passenger Rail in the Presidents Dining Room in the University Center at noon. Kenna will provide insight regarding passenger rail in the State of Georgia, House Bill 277 (Transportation Enhancement Act) and other issues influencing Georgia’s transportation system. Georgians for Passenger Rail is an advocacy group promoting the creation of a passenger rail network for Georgia, which is focused on bringing passenger rail service to the Macon-Atlanta corridor. Tickets for the event are sold out.
Mercer graduate Audrey Norvell, a 2006 environmental engineering graduate will deliver a lecture on her work in mining clean-up efforts. Norvell will speak Friday at 10 a.m. in the Peyton Anderson Auditorium of the Science and Engineering Building as the spring speaker in the School’s Engineering Alumni Series. Norvell is a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado at Boulder and will share research on the fate and transport of metals in streams impacted by acid mine drainage, and why it is an important component of human and ecological risk assessments for prioritizing cleanup of mining sites.
The School of Engineering concludes Engineers Week by serving as host for this year’s Middle Georgia Middle School MathCounts Competition, which begins at 10 a.m. in the Peyton Anderson Auditorium of the Science and Engineering Building and will feature teams from around the area. The event is co-sponsored by the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers.
About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,200 students in 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies – on major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah and at three regional academic centers across the state. Mercer is affiliated with two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah and the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. The University operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
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