MERC would like to recognize the contributions of the following three employees: Scott Foster, Beth Johnson, and Dr. Bob McGinty
Scott Foster served as MERC’s electronics specialist for almost 23 years. He contributed to the successful execution of a wide variety of aircraft modifications, automated test stations, data acquisition, and instrumentation. Scott provided professional electronics expertise both within MERC labs as well as during numerous field-level aircraft modification efforts. Scott’s can-do attitude always inspired the team to accomplish the task at hand. Prior to joining MERC, he spent 20+ years in the US Air Force as an electronic maintenance specialist.
Beth Johnson joined MERC in November 1992. Beth had previously worked at the Robins Air Force Base Radar Section, Detachment 8 of the 276th Logistics Squadron, and then the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) in Washington DC. Beth brought a strong attention to detail, scheduling skills, and excellent proofreading to the MERC team, reviewing and approving many of the reports and documents created by the Research Center over the past 30 years. Beth is looking forward to spending time with her husband and her family.
Dr. Bob McGinty joined MERC in January 2000, a few months before completing his PhD in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech. Now, after 26 years of service as a senior principal mechanical engineer, Bob is looking forward to playing pickleball, traveling, consulting, and spending time with his granddaughter. While at MERC, Bob performed structural analyses of aircraft and ground support equipment, with a focus on strength and fatigue crack growth resistance. He is particularly proud of his contributions to aircraft mishap investigations of both fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Bob also served as a Mercer adjunct faculty and taught undergraduate dynamics courses and graduate continuum mechanics courses.