Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate research at Mercer provides students with hands-on experience that complements the breadth of their education.

At Mercer, students are given the opportunity to take the lead in top-level research endeavors, which transforms them into scholars who answer tough and relevant questions. Our students work closely with faculty members, not graduate students, in state-of-the-art facilities to complete projects that contribute new knowledge to their fields of study.

Dr. Barry Stephenson is in the woods lifting up the side of a piece of plywood and examining the ground underneath.

Featured Project

Biology lab looks for reptiles, amphibians as part of research in Crawford County

At least once a week for the past 2 ½ years, Dr. Barry Stephenson, an associate professor of biology, has gone with students to a tract of land in Crawford County to survey its population of amphibians and reptiles.

Additional Projects

Dr. Kirsten (Brown) Cottrill, a 2016 Mercer chemistry graduate and Goldwater Scholar, is shown in a Mercer lab with chemistry professor Dr. Garland Crawford in 2014.
Diamond_4

Hands-on learning, mentorships make Mercerians competitive for graduate fellowships

Mercer undergraduate students are encouraged to get involved in research early, and an infrastructure of hands-on learning experiences, one-on-one mentorship and support gives them a competitive edge when it comes to graduate research fellowships in the sciences.

An old deed book lies open. The words
Diamond_4

Collaborative project identifies nearly 1,000 slave transactions in Macon from 1823-65

For years, Bibb County deed books from the 1800s sat unopened, collecting dust inside the courthouse. But since 2018, a team of researchers has been studying and cataloging their contents, which include the sale and lease of enslaved people alongside transactions of land, horses and other property.

Engineering team selected for CUR’s Scholars Transforming Through Research program

Mercer University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. Anthony Choi and undergraduate students William Caden Hamrick and Ethan Choi have been selected to participate in the Council on Undergraduate Research’s Scholars Transforming Through Research program.

Mercer leads Southern Conference with 39 presentations at annual SoCon Undergraduate Research Forum

Mercer University had a conference-best 39 student presentations at the sixth annual SoCon Undergraduate Research Forum, held Oct. 14-15 on the campus of Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

COPA receives grant for work to document African American history in Coastal Georgia

Mercer University’s College of Professional Advancement recently received a $2,500 grant from Georgia Humanities for its latest work in a nearly decade-long research-based, service-learning project to document African American history in Coastal Georgia.