The Cluster

On Thursday, April 11,
Mercer University held its
sixth annual Engineer Expo.
The purpose of the Engineer
Expo was to display the accomplishments
of Mercer’s
Engineering students and the
projects they have worked on
this year.
The Engineer Expo lasted
two days, and was part of the
Mercer’s BEAR Day events.
BEAR Day, or Mercer’s
Breakthroughs in Engagement,
Arts and Research Day
celebrates the accomplishments
of Mercer’s students.
Events of the Engineer
Expo began with podium
presentations at 9 a.m. from
several of Mercer’s engineering
students and faculty in
the Science and Engineering
Building. The presentations
focused on the students’ projects,
with 20 presentations
from 34 students given.
The Engineer Expo continued
at 11 a.m. with a talk
from Dr. Gilda Barabino
titled, “Learning in Research
Settings: Role of Identity
Formation.” Dr. Barabino
is a 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.
An important part of the Engineer
Expo is the First Year
Engineering Design Competition
at 1 p.m. and the senior
project poster presentations
at 3. Hawkins Arena in Mercer’s
University Center was
the location for both.
The poster presentations
displayed senior projects,
and featured the work from
48 students. The students
made posters of their projects
giving details about their
work such as the cost, the
materials used, and the goal
of their project.
“The expo’s purpose is to
showcase what students in
the engineering school have
been showing over the year,”
said Michael An, an engineering
senior whose project
was featured at the Expo. According
to An, the projects
presented at the Engineer
Expo “ranges from exploring
modeling software, to senior
design projects, to independent
research that is graduate
level studies.” An’s project
at the Expo was a swing assisted
exoskeleton with gait
trainer.
The project presentation
boards included an intro to
the project, an analysis, a
picture of the fi nal device,
specifi cations of the project,
the theory behind it, the results
of their project, recommendations
for its use, and
acknowledgements to everyone
who assisted on the project.
The students were there
along with their projects to
answer questions about their
project, give details on the
challenges they faced, discuss
the different issues encountered
and how they dealt
with those issues.
The Engineer Expo featured
a wide variety of projects
from both the Mercer’s
engineering students. Apart
from senior projects, there
were also presentations for
freshman projects as well as
honors and independent projects.
Some of the other senior
presentations at the Expo included
projects such as artifi
cial arms, prosthetics, and
automated kayaks. Some of
the Honors research projects
at the Engineer Expo.
Seniors received $300 to
complete their senior projects.
Some students were
able to receive outside donations
for their projects. Some
donors for the projects were
companies such as Macon
Water.
Vein Specialists of the
South, Gulfstream and the
Kern Entrepreneurship Education
Network each helped
sponsor Mercer’s Engineer
Expo.

To recognize our outstanding
athletes and the contribution
they make to our school,
Student Athlete Day was held
at Mercer on April 10, 2013.
This has been a big annual
event for all of the student
athletes to get together. Mercer
has had this event for
many years. There is a National
Student Athlete Day,
which is annually held on
April 6th each year, and Mercer
tries to keep close to that
date for their celebration.
The Student Athlete Advisory
Committee (SAAC)
wanted to work with Big
Brothers Big Sisters so that
the event would allow some
children to participate in the
program.
Ms. Tina Graham, the Area
Program Manager and Manager
for the Big Brothers
Big Sisters of the Heart of
Georgia, wanted Mercer to
invite children who are currently
on the waiting list for
Big Brothers Big Sisters to
spend time with our student
athletes. These children and
their parents came out to enjoy
the celebration and had a
great time, according to Ms.
Graham. They played kickball
behind the softball fi eld,
talked about sports, received
t-shirts and had food.
When asked why this event
is important to have at Mercer,
Dr. Jeff Hugdhal, the
advisor for the Student Athlete
Advisory Committee
and Faculty Athletics Representative,
said, “As athletes
we all have role models and
today is a big opportunity to
give back to the community
and support our teams at the
same time. All the sports get
to step back away from the
fi eld.”
The Student Athlete Advisory
Committee helped to organize
this event and invited
everyone to come out to celebrate
including the children
from the Big Brothers Big
Sisters program. Another
person who was instrumental
was Patricia Ann Upson
also known as “P.A.” She is
a part of the Student Athlete
Advisory Committee and the
women’s soccer team.
The Student Athlete Day is
planned in such a way that
the event is in conjunction
with a major athletic game or
event.
This year’s game was the
softball game versus Georgia
Tech held at 6pm at Sikes
Field. There was defi nitely
cause to celebrate with the
softball team winning the
game 9-1.
All the student athletes
come out from all the sports
to participate in the celebration.
Mercer hosts sixteen intercollegiate
sports including
baseball, men’s basketball,
women’s basketball, men’s
cross country, women’s cross
country, men’s golf, women’s
golf, men’s lacrosse,
sand volleyball, men’s soccer,
women’s soccer, softball,
men’s tennis, women’s
tennis, women’s volleyball
and football.
Dr. Hugdhal says that “Each
year we celebrate the event
by getting all of our student
athletes together for food, fun
and fellowship. As the Faculty
Athletics Representative, I
supply the food, drinks and
t-shirts. The National Collegiate
Athletic Association
(NCAA) mandates that each
school have a SAAC, comprised
of student-athletes
from each of team.”
The committee emphasizes
communicating well with
the student athletes and the
athletics administration. This
system seems to work very
well at Mercer and keeps the
student athletes well-rounded
and integrated in the school
especially with events like
this. Mercer’s student athletes
get a chance to enjoy
each other’s company and see
their appreciation as valuable
members of the Mercer community.

The long-awaited literary
and arts magazine from
the Dulcimer was released
last Thursday, April 11. The
Dulcimer hosted an annual
release party to celebrate and
bring together art and literature
lovers.
The event was held downtown
at the 567.
To start off the evening at
the release party, there was
a photo booth with hats,
scarves, and fake mustaches
to dress up. Guests at the party
were encouraged to participate
in readings of their
favorite piece of literature.
The readings could be something
from a novel, poem, or
an original piece.
Among some of the speakers
during the readings were
Joshua Whitfi eld, Jennifer
Champagne, Dana Nicolazzi
and professor Gordon Johnston.
Gordon Johnston is an English
professor at Mercer University
and after his poem
reading Johnston said, “This
is the best Dulcimer that I’ve
seen yet.”
Michelle Meredith, editor in
chief of the Dulcimer along
with Jennifer Champagne,
the layout and design editor,
changed a big part of the look
of the magazine.
“Michelle and I worked really
hard on the magazine.
We were going with a new
direction this year, and I
guess we were nervous about
the reception. It seems like
everyone really likes it,”
Champagne said.
The title of the magazine,
Intersection, comes from
the Dulcimer’s aim to interweave
the art and literature
together.
Between 30 to 40 people
in total arrived to the Dulcimer
release party. Of those
who arrived, the adviser for
the Dulcimer Mercer professor,
Craig Coleman, was also
there to celebrate.
“I think it (the release party)
went very well. There
were a great number of
people here. In fact, I think
all of the tables were being
used. Everyone seemed to
enjoy the event very much,”
Coleman said.
Dulcimer staff were excited
to see the Dulcimer magazine
be distributed all over
campus throughout the day
on Bear Day. Over 100 copies
were distributed and still
more were given out during
the release party.
“I’m just really happy that
everyone came out and enjoyed
it and had fun. It was
a nice way to wrap up Bear
Day. Kind of a nice event to
go to at night and just hang
out, relax and appreciate all
the art submissions by all the
students,” Champagne said.
The Dulcimer release party
was one among several other
events that the Dulcimer
hosted throughout the past
year.
The Dulcimer held a “Poetry
in the Park” event along
with providing refreshments
during poetry readings by
professor Judson Mitcham
back in February.
In an announcement Meredith
made during the party,
this year’s Dulcimer magazine,
was dedicated to the
Dean of Liberal Arts and
English professor, Richard
Fallis and to the late author
of “The Whisper of the River,”
Ferrol Sams.

Beginning on Friday, April
12, and concluding on Sunday,
April 15, Mercer’s
Townsend School of Music
hosted a weekend-long dedication
and inauguration of
its Giuseppe Englert Memorial
Organ. The University
received the organ as a gift
earlier in the school year,
and recently fi nished installation
at the McCorkle Music
Building.
The Townsend School of
Music received the organ as
a gift from the nephew of
Giuseppe Englert, Michel
Snethlage. Victor Gonzalez
constructed the organ in Paris,
France, for Giuseppe Englert
in 1953. Dr. Mitchener
also mentioned that the organ
had been played by several
famous composers.
Gonzalez was a famous
organ builder in France,
known for the style called
“Neo-Classical,” according
to Dr. Jack Mitchener, associate
professor of organ in
the Townsend School of Music,
as well as director of the
Townsend-McAfee Institute
of Church Music. “Gonzalez
was the most important
builder of the style in the 20th
Century,” said Dr. Mitchener.
According to Dr. Mitchener,
the organ had been sitting in
an apartment in France for 60
years before Snethlage gave
it to Mercer. French musician
and organ builder Robert
Martin dismantled the organ
in France and reassembled it
here at Mercer after it arrived
in Macon in October.
The organ’s size required
transportation in about 15
large crates, according to
Martin and Dr. Mitchener.
Martin arrived in Macon in
November and started reassembling
the organ, comparing
it to a “big puzzle.”
Martin also said that
many of the students at the
Townsend School of Music
helped with the reassembling
process saying, “They
give a lot,” and that “Everyone
wanted to see the organ
rebuilding.” Dr. Mitchener
also mentioned how much
help the students provided.
“The students were very involved,
they were here very
late many nights,” said Dr.
Mitchener.
Dr. Mitchener mentioned
how lucky they were to
receive the organ saying,
“We’re very grateful to Michel
Snethlage.” He also
mentioned that apart from
being valuable as a historical
item, the organ also had
many practical uses for the
school.
“Because it was built so
well that it still plays very
well and will serve the needs
of our students very well,”
said Dr. Mitchener. “Just for
student practice and lessons
and classes and so on, it’s really
a great thing for us.”
Apart from being an organ
builder, Martin has also been
the organist of the Principle
Church of Marseille for 38
years. He mentioned that
while he was at Mercer, many
music students came to speak
with him about music. “They
ask a lot of questions about
French music, because I am
an organist,” said Martin.
Martin and Dr. Mitchener
also participated in the inauguration
and dedication
events held to celebrate the
organ’s donation. Both of
them were amongst the organists
that performed on
Friday, April 12 along with
two other guest organists,
Ralph Tilden and Maritouca
Vernières.
Martin also gave a talk
on Saturday, April 13 titled
“César Franck and the Great
Cavaillé-Coll Organ at Ste.
Clotilde.” The dedication
concluded on Sunday, with
performances from Mercer
students and local organists.

On Friday, April 12, SGA
executed its annual Taste of
Macon in the outfi eld of Mercer
baseball’s weekend series
against Florida Gulf Coast.
It did not take long for a
crowd to show up and get
in line for this event. While
students awaited their chance
to acquire a plate of local
delicacies, Mercer’s baseball
team began its game at
Claude Smith Field.
Students got to watch the
baseball team win their game
while enjoying a little treat to
eat.
There were more than
twenty different restaurants
participating in this event
and showcasing what they
have to offer at their loca establishments.
The restaurants ranged from
fast food to gourmet options.
The list of restaurants included
Mercer Village’s Margaritas,
Jittery Joe’s, Fountain of
Juice, Ingleside Pizza, and
Francar’s Buffalo Wings.
Some other restaurants from
the area were Dolce Vita Pizzeria
and Cafe, Bear’s Den,
Bearfoot Tavern, Greek
Corner Deli, McAlister’s
Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill,
Doughboy’s Pizza, Molly’s
Cafe, Nu Way Weiners, Out
2 Lunch, The Backburner,
Tic Toc Room, and Buffalo’s
Café.
The food included chips and
salsa, hotdogs, sandwiches,
chicken fi ngers, cookies,
brownies, and drinks. But
there was so much more than
that at Taste of Macon.
Most of these restaurants
reside in the College Hill
Corridor, which includes a
two-mile radius between the
university and the downtown
area. The restaurants offer
options that are better than
what can be found on campus
and are often cheaper,
with discounts. The corridor
offers not only these restaurants,
but historical features
as well.
The Student Government
Association organized this
event for Mercer’s students
to enjoy. Vice President
Joshua Lovett says that Taste
of Macon was created by the
Student Government Association
and has been going on
for about four or fi ve years.
The goal is to try to do
this once a semester. It takes
about one month to organize
the event and to get all
the vendors who will bring
food. Lovette said, “The
idea is to expose students to
more places and experiences
in Macon. The vast majority
of these restaurants offer
discounts to students.” They
want students to integrate
into Macon community more
because there really is a lot to
do here.
Taste of Macon just shows
a part of what Macon has to
offer and food is great way to
do that. A “taste of Macon”
shows that there are more
places to go to than students
might think.
Lovett said that it shows students
other options than the
Fresh Food Company and the
University Center that they
can go to when these options
are closed. Macon is full of
many things and offers a variety
of opportunities for students
and to take advantage
of them, especially historical
and cultural events.
Lovett notes that the Macon
Connections Chair of
the Student Government Association,
Jeremy Reardon,
was essential to making this
event come together. His position
encourages students
to become more involved in
the Macon community while
establishing connections
benefi cial to students. Taste
of Macon is an event that
allows the Student Government
Association to do that
for Mercer’s students.

On April 11, students presented unique works from the year at the Breakthrough Engaging the Arts and Research event, known as BEAR Day.
BEAR Day allows students to present research in the sciences and humanities through posters, presentations and an art show.
BEAR Day ran in parallel with an Engineering Expo in the Engineering School.
Classes in the College of Liberal Arts were canceled for the day so students could watch the research put forth by other students or present their own research.
This year marks the third year BEAR Day has been an event at Mercer
In the morning, students presented posters made in various fields of research. Groups of students worked together under the guidance of faculty mentors. This research led to posters and presentations on topics in science, psychology and more.
Roughly 60 posters were made for the event.
Right at 11:00 the keynote speaker began her talk on Mars and its possible habitability. Provost Professor and Chair of the Department of Geological Sciences at Indiana University Lisa Pratt spoke about the importance of research and what research has meant for our understanding of Mars. Pratt has published over 100 journal papers and chairs the Mars Program Analysis Group for NASA. Pratt fi elded many questions from students and faculty who attended the event, including a professor who asked what it would mean for us if there was or was not life on Mars. Lunch was served from 11:00 to 2:00, with music provided by Megan Delong from the Admissions department. In the afternoon, students’ presentations began. Students presented research and papers from the past year. Junior Connor Cosenza presented his econometric paper on the effect of No Child Left Behind on the percentage of students enrolled on Individual Educational Programs. “I enjoyed the experience. It was interesting to field questions on the subject,” Cosenza stated. He wrote the paper as an assignment for his econometrics class last semester. Cosenza presented the paper in lieu of a final exam for the class, with the stipulation he would also present at BEAR Day. Cosenza’s paper was one of roughly 65 papers presented at BEAR Day.

As the first BEAR Day grew out of other programs and events. Three years ago, it was decided that classes would be canceled so students could present and attend the talks. “The goal of BEAR Day is to encourage students to be involved in research production of creative materials,” Chair of Engaged Learning Committee Paul A. Lewis said. “BEAR Day gives a chance to showcase students’ work.” Lewis has been involved with BEAR Day for all three years on some capacity. This year, he chaired the Engaged Learning Committee, the committee responsible for BEAR Day. Lewis confessed that his role was very dependent on his committee, which he admitted was very helpful in implementing BEAR Day. The committee members of the Engaged Learning Committee are Paul A. Lewis, Amy M. Wiles, Tom Scott, Craig Coleman, Eric Spears, Kevin M. Bucholtz and Melina R. McSwiggen.

Rain failed to deter many community members from attending the Magnolia Street Soap Box Derby on April 14. The derby, organized by InTown Macon and College Hill Alliance, attracted a crowd of over 1,000.
Attendance was down from 2,500 attendees last year but according to InTown Macon’s Koryn Young, the turnout was decent despite the rainy weather. Young organized the annual event.
“We’re very excited that it worked out so well,” Young said.
Nineteen teams representing local businesses and organizations from around Macon showed up at noon with cars for a test run on the Magnolia Street Course.
Unfortunately, the cars of Macon Aces, a disc golf club, and Legal Eagles, Mercer University’s Law School, both lost during the initial test run.
The teams that survived the test run competed for first, second and third place prizes in the Grand Prix. The cars competed one at a time in the time trial.
The Bearfoot Tavern team received the best time, retaining its status as the reigning champion of the derby.
The Cotton Avenue Hustlers provided live music during the Soap Box Derby.
A last minute cancellation by the audio technician briefly put the music in peril, but a volunteer was able step in.
The derby was scheduled to coordinate with the Second Sunday Concert in Washington Park, adjacent to the derby’s course.
However, the concert was relocated to Grant’s Lounge later in the evening.
Street entertainers, including Streetline percussion, performed despite the weather.
Streetline, whose derby car came in fourth place at 10.9 seconds, is a non-profit organization that specializes in teaching percussion to at-risk youth.
“Our drums are marching equipment made for weather. We don’t cancel,” said Danny Rantz, Head Adviser of Streetline.
Event organizers decided to push up the schedule of the day to ensure that crowds stayed for the entire derby.
As a result, many members of Streetline had to rush to Magnolia Street and performed in formal church clothes.
The Soap Box Derby is supported by dozens of volunteer groups, including Boy Scout Troop 8, who lined Magnolia Street with hay bales they provided.
Many cars crashed into a wall of hay at the end of the course.
The scouts rebuilt the wall and cleared the course after each race in preparation for the next one.
“Boy Scout Troop 8, they’re basically the unsung heroes of every single year [at the derby],” Young said.
This year marked the first that InTown had volunteer security workers to keep the spectators and belongings off the track and hay bales.
Magnolia Street residents contributed their yards and porches for spectators to get a better view of the race.
InTown does not plan any significant changes to next year’s derby, but does want to increase community involvement so the derby resembles a festival more than a race.
“We’d like to keep the formula the same because it’s worked so well for us the past few years,” Young said. “We’d like to have 40 cars next year. We’d like to invite more of the community to participate and more businesses to participate, so we can have a professional level and more novice level.”
This year featured some unique and creative derby cars, including Rodeo Beach’s horse drawn carriage and Georgia Public Broadcasting’s car resembling radio towers.
Middle Georgia Derby Demons featured a giant skate as their car; Middle Georgia Ambulance raced with a miniature ambulance car with working lights, siren and confetti cannon; and Mercer Law showed up with a giant gavel car with the name “Legal Eagles.”
Local business, Francar’s, had a Harley trike car with chicken wings in back.
Also apparing in the soapbox derby were representations of the famous Flintstone car, a kayak, a Model A hotrod and trashcans.

April 17 will mark the opening of Mercer Medicine’s and Piedmont Healthcare’s collaborative organ transplant satellite clinic.
The clinic will provide crucial preoperative and post-operative transplant services to those in Central Georgia needing kidney transplants.
Of the 3,200 Georgia patients waiting for kidney transplant, close to 200 die each year. Though the satellite clinic will not perform transplants of any kind, Central Georgia kidney patients will have the ability to have transplant evaluations done locally through the new clinic.
The clinic will be located at 707 Pine St. in the building of the Mercer Medicine Internal Medicine Clinic. It will be open quarterly with the possibility of increasing hours if demand requires it.
The clinic will provide evaluations for pre-dialysis and dialysis patients. Trips to Atlanta for these evaluations and treatment can be expensive and time-consuming.
Many of these patients do not have the money or time to afford making the trip to Atlanta for these important appointments and having a clinic in Macon will afford them the opportunity to seek preoperative evaluation and post-operative care locally.
Piedmont Healthcare has a strong record when it comes to transplant success. They have the best transplant survival rate in Georgia and one of the highest transplant survival rates in the country. The transplant clinic will be staffed by employees of Piedmont but Mercer Medicine will be responsible for oversight.
Piedmont Healthcare is a not-for-profit company responsible for many hospitals around Georgia, including the 529 acute tertiary care facility in Buckhead and the 215-bed acute care facility of Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia.
The Buckhead Piedmont Hospital has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the best acute-care, non-academic hospital in metro Atlanta. Piedmont Healthcare also formed the Piedmont Heart Institute, the Piedmont Physicians Group, the Piedmont Clinic and the Piedmont Healthcare Foundation.
Bringing this expertise to Macon will be a great advantage for those who need treatment for kidney transplant as well as for the medical community.
“Transplants are a wave of the future. We are bringing state-of-the-art medicine to Macon,” Mercer Medicine chief of nephrology Ajay Srivastava stated.
In addition to being crucial for kidney patients in Central Georgia, the satellite clinic will be beneficial to the medical community of Macon and Mercer. There will be an increase in fellowships stemming from the new clinic.
Fellowships, the process of the medical training coming after residency, are for doctors who are specializing in specific fields. The new clinic will offer fellowships in specializations such as nephrology and infectious diseases.
“Mercer will be able to create training fellowships so that doctors can be specialized,” Srivastava said.
The clinic is set to open on April 17 and will have a ribbon cutting and reception on April 16.
Mercer Medicine is responsible for providing the space and oversight to the Piedmont Healthcare team.
Multiple-specialty physicians compose this physician practice and clinical component of Mercer University School of Medicine. Mercer Medicine employs over 80 staff including doctors, nurse clinicians and more.
The new transplant clinic will bring a great amount of medical knowledge and expertise to Macon and will be very beneficial for kidney transplant patients.

Last Wednesday Mercer’s annual SHAPE Carnival took place in the University Center. The intention of the Carnival was to help raise awareness on sexual assault, hazing and alcohol prevention by having participants partake in different games and events.
The aim of the carnival is to help people understand the consequences of participating in alcohol, drug, and sexual abuse related activities.
The event is the biggest one of the year for SHAPE.
“Every organization on campus is invited to participate,” said SHAPE executive board member, Jessica Holmes. Each organization creates their own booth with their own ideas on what their booth should offer. SHAPE members help organizations with information and facts to present at each booth to educate participants.
Last year over 450 people attended the carnival. This year’s SHAPE event was also apart of the Greek Week festivities where competing fraternities and sororities could gain points for their chapter by partaking in the carnival. The event was one of several during the week in which greeks could gain participation points for an overall prize which will be annouced at the Greek Awards on April 22.
The original location for the carnival was on the Quad but due to weather it was moved to Heritage Hall in the University Center.
Some booths this year included an inflatable obstacle course put on by Chi Omega. Participants going through the course were required to wear goggles that simulated the vision of an intoxicated individual.
AWARE had a booth that had participants through pies at an individual’s face. At each booth people were asked to answer questions or given facts related to drugs, sexual assault and alcohol.
Included at many booths were candy and small prizes.In order to receive a free t-shirt participants were required to go to 22 booths and have the booth sign off on a number box card made by SHAPE.
SHAPE is comprised of staff, faculty and students who meet every Thursday in the Connell Student Center.
Other events put on by SHAPE during the year include Hazing Awareness Week which will take place this coming September and Oksoberfest which is held in October.