Research Opportunities at Mercer
Research is a great way to learn more about chemistry. Applying what you've learned in classes to real world problems can be challenging and fun. Mercer encourages anyone who is interested in research to look into getting involved.

Credit for Research
There are 5 ways to get credit for research at Mercer:

• * CHM 295 - graded course,  each 3 hours each week in lab gets 1 graded credit hour
• * CHM 401 - fall course for CHM majors with senior standing (CHM 402 is the same, in spring)
• * CHM 481 Special Topics - Internships that collaborate with a chemistry department member can be arranged to earn class credit for internships
• * Research stipends (REU, MUBS) - generally offered over the summer at competitive research wages
• * Volunteer positions - good way to get involved and build your resume

To get academic credit from the chemistry department, you must have a member of the chemistry department register as a research mentor. Collaborations (such as environmental chemistry projects or projects with the medical or pharmacy schools) are great. You can definitely get CHM 295 or 401/402 credit for them. However, you must have someone in the chemistry department sign up as a mentor to ensure that all departmental goals are met.

Over the summer, numerous research experiences are available. The MUBS (Mercer Undergraduate BioMedicals Scholars is available to Mercer students interested in any biologically relevant research. REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) and SRP (Summer Research Program) are available for students interested in a taste of graduate school research.

Instrumentation
Click here to see a list of all the fancy toys our undergraduate researchers get to play with!
Note: students operate all equipment for legitimate scientific studies. Not only for fun.

Get involved
So how do you get involved in research? Below are descriptions of some of the research groups, identify what you think sounds interesting. Then go talk to that professor about research opportunities. Dr. Goode (Willet 322) is willing to help students identify potential faculty research mentors, so stop by and talk to him.

Dr. Trogden is interested in exploring how small molecules interact with biologically-derived proteins. Projects range from computer modeling to organic synthesis to analytical chemistry to molecular biology. Read more at her website.

 

From Dr. Moore's group: Research students might have curiosity about unusual phenomena associated with “chemical phase changes” (and uncovering physical explanations for how these phenomena occur) complimented by high tolerance for repetitive experimentation. Current research projects study the phosphorescence on-off switching of doped quantum dots, the charge-transport mechanism of heterocyle-based conducting polymers, and the emergence of the dilatancy property in certain non-Newtonian composite fluids.

Research in the Goode lab focuses on the chemical biology of pathogens with a focus on evasion of apoptosis. Using molecular design, synthesis, biochemical assay, and in vitro experimentation the lab is looking for small molecules that can perturb pathogen protein function with a goal to halt pathogen replication and spread. Systems currently being studied include pox virus Bcl-2 mimics, and cholera toxin.

Dr. Look's research involves working with transition metal complexes. Students should have a good understanding of stoichiometry, purification and be very careful working in lab.

 

Dr. Kiefer's research involves organic synthesis and uses "green" catalysts.

 

Dr. Seney's research involves lasers and nanoparticles.

 

Dr. Kloepper's research involves analytical techniques like HPLC and ICP.

 

Dr. Bucholtz's research involves biologically relevant  organic molecules.

 

Dr. Pounds research is in the area of theoretical and chemical physics. At present there are four specific chemical topics under investigation: stationary points on the indole synthesis reaction hypersurface, reactions of catechins with hydroxyl radicals, dynamics of colloidal silver nanoparticles systems, and atmospheric reactions involving organic sulfides. In most of these studies state of the art computer hardware and software are used to investigate the underlying quantum mechanics of the chemical processes. Another growing research area in this group is the development of high performance computational algorithms for modeling, analyzing, and visualizing chemical systems. Recent research has focused on self tuning algorithms for large scale parallel molecular dynamics simulations done across heterogeneous computing clusters. To learn more about Dr. Pounds and his research, check out the following website.

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