News

Andrew Smelser, Aerospace Engineer, was proud to participate in the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Along with 75 members of the Liberty Jump Team, Andrew completed three static-line parachute jumps that commemorated the invasion of Normandy: (1) Amfreville, (2) La Fière, and (3) Mont-Saint-Michel. His first two jumps were out of C-47 “Skytrains” both of which…

Elizabeth Greene, Tristan Quinn, Brittany Billups, and Ryan Porterfield developed and currently administer the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center website and database, which was established by the Mercer University School of Medicine to address the health care challenges in rural Georgia communities. The website, Community Health Reporter, enables volunteers to record data on available health-related…

MERC is pleased to welcome 15 engineering interns from Mercer, Georgia Tech, UGA, and Kennesaw State who are pictured from left to right: Brady Blake (UGA), Caleb Cook (Mercer), David Reeves (Georgia Tech), Lucas Garza (Georgia Tech), Steven Carter (Georgia Southern), Katie Gibbs (Mercer), Kevin Garza (Georgia Tech), Drew Jackson (Mercer), David Schmitz (Georgia Tech),…

Congratulations to Jim Hundley, Sr. Director of Engineering and Programs, for being recognized “For extraordinary contributions to the F4G Program and USAF Wild Weasel capability.” He accepted the award at the Wild Weasel conference on 13 April in Ft. Walton Beach. Jim served as lead engineer in designing hardware and software for the Wild Weasel…

Congratulations to 31 employees for their service to MERC, ranging from 5 to 25 years. These employees were honored at an employee recognition luncheon on April 17. The recognition ceremony was dedicated to Betty Wilkerson, a beloved MERC employee for 25 years, who unfortunately passed away in March 2024. Her daughter, Mickie Cranford, accepted the…

Jonathan Strunk, Chief Engineer, was proud to deliver brief opening remarks at the GeorgiaFirst Robotics competition. Jonathan congratulated the teams of high school students for their hard work, dedication, and perseverance in qualifying for the district competition, which was held at Mercer University. Jonathan is a graduate of the Mercer University School of Engineering.

Chad deMontfort, Chief Engineer, and Jeff Brenna, Aerospace Engineer, gave a guest lecture on rotorcraft finite element modeling and analysis to a class of aerospace engineering students at Georgia Tech. Chad also gave a presentation on MERC’s work in supporting rotary wing research for the DoD to graduate students participating in Georgia Tech’s Vertical Flight…

MERC was pleased to host 18 Houston County teachers who are participating in an externship that enables them to visit local industries and observe first-hand what the 21st century workplace entails. These visits help teachers provide links between the skills and knowledge taught in the classroom with those being used in the workplace so that…

MERC was proud to participate in and serve as a sponsor of the annual Association of Old Crows Dixie Crow Symposium, held in the Museum of Aviation Century of Flight Hangar, Robins AFB. Several MERC employees with expertise in electronic warfare participated in the symposium, including Justin McFall and Tyler Watson (shown here). Tyler demonstrated…

Dr. Kirby Godsey, Chancellor of Mercer University, was instrumental in establishing MERC in 1987. In recognition of his long-term support, he received the first in the series of the executive director challenge coins from Ms. Andi Mitchell, MERC Executive Director, during his recent visit to MERC.