News

Summer interns Katie Gibbs (Georgia Tech), Kevin Garza (Georgia Tech), and Steven Carter (Georgia Southern) are working in MERC’s Electronic Warfare and Avionics Product Area supporting the United States Air Force. They are getting hands-on experience with applications such as signal analysis, RF systems, and electronics/avionics design.

MERC was pleased to host a group of local high school students who are participating in the Student Pathways Program (SPP) sponsored by Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex (WR/ALC). These students toured MERC’s facility and several of MERC’s summer engineering interns presented their latest projects and answered questions.

Mercer University undergraduate and graduate interns are working with MERC engineers to support the United States Navy helicopter fleet. The interns are using 3-D models, real damage records, and a retired H-60 helicopter to provide Naval Air Systems Command with a digital map of all historical damage. As well as learning hands-on engineering skills, these…

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 (Georgia Tech), Kevin Garza (Georgia Tech), Drew Jackson (Mercer), David Schmitz (Georgia…

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…