MACON — Mercer University's Macon campus will showcase a vast array of research and student-faculty projects on Thursday with two daylong events, the sixth annual Engineering Expo and the third annual BEAR Day, or Breakthroughs in Engagement, Arts and Research Day. The College of Liberal Arts, Stetson School of Business and Economics and School of Engineering have canceled classes for the day to allow students to attend the events, which celebrate experiential learning by showcasing the research and projects of students and faculty.
Engineering Expo
The School of Engineering will celebrate its student research on Thursday. The School's Engineering Expo begins at 9 a.m. in the Science and Engineering Building with concurrent podium presentations by students and faculty on their research projects. In all, 34 students will participate in 20 presentations. Three faculty will present as well. At 11 a.m., Dr. Gilda Barabino, professor and associate chair for graduate studies in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, will give the keynote lecture, titled “Learning in Research Settings: Role of Identity Formation,” in the Peyton Anderson Auditorium of the Science and Engineering Building. Following the keynote, attendees will break for lunch at the LaTorre Family Plaza provided by Tau Beta Pi and IIE, or on the historic Quad.
At 1 p.m., the action switches to Hawkins Arena in the University Center for the First-Year Engineering Design Competition, where student teams will compete against one another in various small-vehicle competitions. Following the competition, the action shifts to the arena concourse at 3 p.m. for poster presentations, featuring 48 student poster presentations with 80 contributing students.
The event is sponsored by Gulfstream, the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network, and Vein Specialists of the South.
BEAR Day
The University's third annual BEAR Day, or Breakthroughs in Engagement, Arts and Research Day, will showcase research from the College of Liberal Arts and Stetson School of Business and Economics. BEAR Day kicks off with the annual poster presentations by students from CLA and Business, from 9-10:30 a.m. in Heritage Hall at the University Center. In all, 55 students will present 33 posters. From 11-11:50 a.m., Dr. Lisa Pratt, provost professor and chair of the Department of Geological Sciences at Indiana University, will deliver the keynote address in Willingham Auditorium. Her presentation is titled “Recent Discoveries Propelling the Search for Present-Day Life on Mars.” Following the keynote, attendees will break for lunch on the historic Quad from 11-2 p.m., featuring live music, with Bear Cards accepted for the picnic.
The event also includes an art show from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. featuring student artists' work in Hardman Hall Gallery and an art show awards presentation at 2 p.m. in Hardman Hall. The events conclude with 61 oral presentations in the classrooms of Knight Hall, be held on the hour, from 1 to 4 p.m.