Sample Merit Research Projects

The titles below are some of the projects of current Merit Research students, but are only a general guideline to the many opportunities available for students to participate in research.  We have indicated the major of the student working on each project, but most research projects are interdisciplinary and include teams of students from various backgrounds and majors.


Students majoring in Aerospace Engineering are working on projects such as:

• Control system for a 1/6th-scale Harrier jet model
• Lunar Lander prototype vehicle
• Novel pitch control effectors for blended-wing body

Students pursuing degrees in Astronautics are involved in the following projects:

• Hybrid mass flow determination via a Thrust Stand micro-Mass Balance
• Research in advanced propulsion
• Surface Roughness effects in low Reynolds Number channel flows

Students studying Biomedical Engineering and its various specializations are working on projects that include:

• Cardiovascular disease in women
• Characteristics of bacterial proagation compared to chemical and flame propagation
• Engineering viruses for gene delivery

Students majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering are involved with research projects such as:

• Engineering and technical implications of building 27 new nuclear reactors in the U.S.
• Chemical Safety Board investigations with NASA-JPL
• The effect of global warming on intensifying natural disasters

Students pursuing degrees in Chemical Engineering and all of its emphases are contributing toward the following projects:

• Removal of toxic materials from power plant effluents
• Modification of bionanoparticles for targeted delivery
• Thermal analysis of cellular composites

Students majoring in Computer Science and Computer Engineering/Computer Science are participating in research projects that include:

• Interactive character animation for video games
• Mobile and embedded systems technologies
• Simulating satellite connectivity

Students pursuing degrees in Electrical Engineering are working on research projects such as:

• Artificial brain
• Raman and Flourescene spectroscopy of individual carbon nanotubes
• Subnanosecond pulse generator and associated diagnostics

Students majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering are contributing towards the following projects:

• Alternative energy sources and their impact on the environment
• Aviation safety and runway incursion
• Requirements analysis for emergency shelters

Students pursuing degrees in Mechanical Engineering are participating in projects that include:

• Design and analysis of composite instruments
• Making virtual humans expressive
• Nano catalyst-based photo-electrodes for solar harvesting

Students who are Undeclared Engineering (ENGR) are involved with projects such as:

• Microbial fuel cells
• Nanowire synthesis
• Studies on biocompatibility and safety of implantable medical devices