News Archive - 2020

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Kudos, March 2020

Selection for fellowships, nimble expertise in the confines of social distancing and new books highlight our congratulations to Franklin faculty this month. Well done! The Institute of Bioinformatics Collective Behavior Symposium on March 20 successfully transitioned to a virtual experience for participants on very short notice. The original plan was to host 150 people, but 407 “showed up," said Jonathan Arnold,…

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Calusa stored fish in 16th-century 'watercourts'

New research from anthropology professor Victor Thompson sheds light on innovative hunter-gatherer practices in early Florida: [The] Calusa ruled South Florida for centuries, wielding military power, trading and collecting tribute along routes that sprawled hundreds of miles, creating shell islands, erecting enormous buildings and dredging canals wider than some highways. Unlike the Aztecs, Maya and Inca, who built their empires…

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Sociologist quoted in 'Alcohol and Isolation' policy article

A new article in Alcohol & Drug Abuse Weekly, from Wiley Online Library, tackles a particularly timely subject: Are people drinking more now that they are locked in a house with their nearest and dearest, facing job loss or having lost a job, bored and stressed? Probably. Is drinking a healthy way of coping? No. The article includes comments by experts including Paul M. Roman, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, who provided…

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Thomas to become Dean of Arts and Sciences at UAB

In her 27-year UGA career, Thomas has distinguished herself as an outstanding classroom teacher, graduate student mentor, and researcher. Her work on the psychology of workplace diversity has gained national attention, and she is an elected fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race. Thomas has also held several…

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Social scientists worldwide collaborate on COVID-19

More than 100 international social scientists are working together to collect immediate and longitudinal information on the key social science factors that might predict the spread of COVID-19. The project, known as PsyCorona, will pair social and data scientists to connect data across multiple layers—individual survey reports from 10,000-plus participants from more than nine countries, satellite data documenting social distancing, and…

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Lillian Eby receives SEC Faculty Achievement Award

Lillian Eby, a professor of psychology and director of the University of Georgia Owens Institute for Behavioral Research, has been named UGA’s 2020 recipient of the Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award: Eby, a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is recognized both nationally and internationally for her impact on the field of industrial-organizational psychology, with particular emphases…

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Andrews, Shannon honored with Russell Teaching Awards

Tessa Andrews and Jerry Shannon are among three University of Georgia faculty members named recipients of the Richard B. Russell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the university’s highest early career teaching honor: “By recognizing early career faculty for exemplary instruction, the University of Georgia communicates the high value it places on creating outstanding learning experiences and outcomes for students,” said S.…

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Landon Clark named 2020 Goldwater Scholar

A third-year CURO Honors Scholar who is triple majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, genetics and biology, Landon Clark is among 396 undergraduates across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering: Clark’s long-term plans include pursuing an MD/PhD in…

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Dodd alumni at CDC illustrate the artful reach of science

Dan Higgins (BFA ’93) and Alissa Eckert (BFA ’04) created the COVID-19 image that people around the world are using to understand the pandemic: [I]n addition to being University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Lamar Dodd School of Art alumni, Dan and Alissa are medical illustrators with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Alissa remembers receiving a phone call on a Tuesday in January. A…

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Ying Xu: Tracking the factors that influence tumor growth

Growing up in a family of scientists had a great effect on Ying Xu’s career. With two chemistry professors for parents, he was exposed to science at a very early age. However, it was his uncle, a computer scientist, who encouraged him to study computer science or mathematics. Xu obtained his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder. During his doctoral studies, Xu knew very little about biology. Learning about…