Dr. Miguel Sahagun, director of the BEACON Lab and Charles T. Ingram Associate Professor of Marketing, taught a group of students at the lab.
Students partner with local businesses and gain hands-on experience through the lab’s latest technology.
HIGH POINT, N.C., Feb. 12, 2026 – High Point University has expanded the capabilities of its BEACON (Biometric Evaluation, Analytics, Cognitive Observation and Neuromarketing) Laboratory with new mobile eye-tracking hardware and advanced software that enhance the quality, flexibility and depth of biometric research. The expansion comes thanks to funding from one of HPU’s 2025 THINK BIG Grants.
The BEACON Lab is a cutting-edge experiential learning hub that provides HPU students with hands-on training in advanced biometric technologies, including eye tracking, facial expression analysis and electroencephalogram (a test that measures electrical activity in the brain). It has become a transformative academic space where students design experiments and conduct research, collect and analyze physiological data, and collaborate with real businesses.
For example, students used neuromarketing with eye-tracking and facial expression analysis when they researched product popularity for Phillips Collection, a home furnishings manufacturer based in High Point. They also explored the effectiveness of color in logo designs, measured attention spans in social media advertising and determined how brand names shape consumer choices in the food market.
Jason Phillips, CEO of Phillips Collection, said the research that HPU students conducted in collaboration with his company was “meaningful and forward-thinking work.”
“We were genuinely impressed by the caliber of work High Point University students brought forward,” Phillips said. “Their thoughtful insights and creative approaches to neuromarketing left us inspired and energized. Collaborating with HPU continues to be a rewarding experience for Phillips Collection. We deeply value the school’s dedication to bridging academic excellence with real-world impact.”
The research conducted in the lab applies to multiple industries but focuses on marketing practices, including advertising, product display, web page content and design, said Dr. Miguel Sahagun, director of the BEACON Lab and HPU’s Charles T. Ingram Associate Professor of Marketing.
“The BEACON Lab has transformed how we teach research,” he said. “Students are no longer just learning concepts; they are applying biometric tools to real challenges, producing research and insights that rival graduate-level work.”
Sahagun said the lab allows HPU to provide students with a fully immersive, start-to-finish approach to research that is unique in higher education. Students participate in every phase of the process, from developing research questions and collecting biometric data to interpreting results and presenting their findings. The lab also creates real-world consulting opportunities by partnering students with local companies and nonprofits to address marketing, communication and consumer-behavior challenges using biometric insights.
These opportunities offer students a blend of theoretical insight, technical skill development and career-related experience, Sahagun said. Students also gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and build strong research and analytical skills that are in high demand as they prepare for graduate school or careers after college.
“Having access to the BEACON Lab completely transformed my understanding of marketing research,” said Calvin Byrd, a business and marketing research graduate from Seattle, Washington. “Being able to work hands-on with neuromarketing tools made the research process even more interesting and showed me how data can directly impact strategic decision making.”
Byrd recently joined Stryker Emergency Care as a marketing associate. He said working in the lab gave him real research experience that helped him stand out during the job interview process.
“This lab has helped me grasp the depth of which marketing can go,” said Dillon Sullivan, a senior marketing major from Rye Brook, New York. “I saw marketing as something as general as designing new packaging or themes for advertisement, not a scientific process of researching human behaviors and appeals until using the BEACON Lab.”
Working in the BEACON Lab increased Sullivan’s understanding of the ways that marketers search for products with a lasting consumer appeal.
“The BEACON Lab gives our students a competitive advantage,” said Dr. Matthew Jenkins, assistant professor of strategic communication. “By integrating biometric data into their communication projects, they gain a level of analytical expertise that employers find extremely valuable.”