Tags: climate change

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Focused on the fuel

Franklin College faculty and graduate students across the life sciences are engaged in bringing next-generation transportation fuels to market through a variety of ongoing research efforts. From  refinement of living organisms to breaking down sugars to release the energy in biomass, extraordinary researchers are developing new methods for displacing fossil fuels from the carbon budget. Our colleagues in the Office of Research share the story:…

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UGA doctoral student selected as NASA Future Investigator

Chintan Maniyar, a Ph.D. student in the department of geography, received a NASA early career fellowship, the NASA Earth Science Division announced in August. Known as the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINNEST), the $150,000 fellowship, the program accepts proposals for graduate student-designed research projects that contribute to Science Mission Directorate’s science, technology, and exploration goals.…

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CRISPR enables plant biologists to engage grand challenges

New research from UGA plant scientists describe how CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology has a significant role to play in developing sustainable agriculture. The study and illustrations are featured on the cover of the August issue of the CRISPR Journal, which details how recent studies in the deployment of genome editing in trees are opening new avenues for sustainable forestry: The widespread success of CRISPR medicines in the clinic is…

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UGA research links climate change to lazier jet stream, leading to weather extremes

Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper atmosphere, typically occurring around 30,000 feet in elevation, that blow from west to east. The normal westerly flow leads to week-to-week variations in the weather, modulated in the mid-latitudes by ridges and troughs in the jet stream. The influence of a high-pressure ridge, for example, produces clear, warmer weather conditions; a trough in the jet stream is typically…

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Urban Climate Justice

A new book of essays published by the UGA Press explores the links between climate justice and urban justice. Edited by Jennifer L. Rice, Joshua Long and Anthony Levenda, Urban Climate Justice – Theory, Praxis, Resistance was published May 1. Arguing that climate injustice is one of our most pressing urban problems, the volume explores the possibilities and challenges for more just urban futures under climate change. Whether characterized by…

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2023 Georgia Climate Conference to focus on communities, business innovation

The Georgia Climate Project announced its plenary speakers for the upcoming Georgia Climate Conference taking place May 15-17, 2023 in Athens, Georgia. The conference will address what a changing climate means for Georgia, and most importantly, what we can do about it. The event will bring together hundreds of attendees representing multiple sectors and areas of expertise to collaborate, raise awareness of work in Georgia, highlight progress,…

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Bensasson uses yeast to unlock life’s greatest mysteries

What comes to mind when you think of yeast? To a baker, it might mean the ability to make their dough rise. A brewmaster might associate it with the fermentation of beer and wine. Many others may associate these types of fungus with one dreaded infection or another. Yeast serves many functions. For the University of Georgia’s Douda Bensasson, it’s all of these—and more. An associate professor in the Franklin College of Arts & Science’s…

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Noted and Quoted, February 2023

A climate change summit with Vice President Kamala Harris, the impossible quest of fake meat, and using machine learning to find new exoplanets are just a few of the many stories where our faculty colleagues lead, explain, and advise in media around the world. A sample of distinguished research and time comment from February:   In Atlanta, VP Harris focuses on climate, finding solutions – event co-moderated by Georgia Athletic Association…

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Shepherd joins VP Harris for climate discussion

Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography, moderated a discussion with Vice President Kamala Harris about climate change at Georgia Tech on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in Atlanta: Fresh off the president’s State of the Union speech and with a likely re-election bid on the horizon, Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Atlanta on Wednesday to deliver a message on climate change. She…

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2022 Arctic Report Card

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) presented the 2022 Arctic Report Card, highlighting that the warming Arctic reveals shifting seasons, widespread disturbances, and the value of diverse observations. Issued annually since 2006, the Arctic Report Card is a timely and peer-reviewed source for clear, reliable and concise environmental information on the current state of different components of the Arctic environmental…

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Noted and Quoted, November 2022

From doing the math on Fibonacci numbers to a later and later hurricane season and layoffs in the tech industry, Franklin faculty offered expertise and had their research featured in a variety of media across the globe. A sample from November's stories:   Commentary: It’s not just the economy, stupid – Stephen Mihm, associate professor and head of the department of history, writing in The Washington Post Midterm elections are Nov. 8 — what will…

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Classics professor documents changing climate

UGA's Jordan Pickett recently published findings which reveal that environmental and climatic changes in the eastern Mediterranean were part of a “perfect storm” that led to widespread settlement abandonment or transformation in the early medieval period, roughly 1,500 years ago. This new body of research, which challenges decades of scholarly work, provides modern humans with a case study for how our ancestors adapted creatively to changes in…

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Noted and Quoted, summer 2022

Broad coverage of big stories on race, health, climate change, weather safety, and history featured research findings and expertise of faculty from across the Franklin College over the summer. A sampling of ongoing, highly impactful scholarship from our colleagues: Black, Latino people more likely to remain masked during pandemic, polls show – research by Allison L. Skinner-Dorkenoo, assistant professor of psychology, reported at TheGrio, Hip-…

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40 Under 40: Maria Augutis

Recruited to compete for the UGA Track and Field team, Double Dawg avant le mot Maria Augutis thought she would be homesick for Sweden. But her time at UGA and the Franklin College turned into the best years of her life – producing two degrees and an SEC championship in the triple jump. Today,  the Swedish Television & StormGeo Meteorologist is helping modernize global weather forecasting from Sweden. Other career highlights include: The…

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New Unscripted: Expedition to Antarctica

The new episode of our interview podcast Unscripted focuses on Patricia Yager, professor of marine sciences, and her recent experience co-leading a research expedition to the Amundsen Sea Polynya in western Antarctica. While many research projects on the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration were focused on sea level rise and the physical processes related to the melting, Yager served as co-chief scientist and lead P.I. on the project…

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New study shows resilience of early coastal communities in Georgia

Archaeologists have hypothesized that more than 4,500 years ago, communities on barrier islands along the southeastern coastlines of the North America were abruptly abandoned due to a sudden shift in climate. But new research from the University of Georgia Laboratory of Archaeology indicates that environmental change was happening both during the settlement of these island villages and—over centuries longer than previously believed—during their…

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Shepherd attends White House climate event

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy holds a first-of-its-kind roundtable with some of the nation’s leading scientists on Thursday, including UGA atmospheric scientist J.Marshall Shepherd, to discuss the urgent need to combat the climate crisis and to counter arguments for delaying climate action: The event, which has not previously been reported, will bring together a diverse group of 17 climate scientists, social scientists…

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Artemis project update

Scientists from around the world continue their work in Antarctica near the Thwaites Glacier. Marine sciences professor Patricia Yager and her team are keeping us updated with great images and details about their progress and ongoing challenges to the work. Unstable sea ice and a large iceberg broken off from the deteriorating Thwaites Glacier are blocking two research ships with dozens of scientists from examining how fast the crucial ice shelf…

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Noted and Quoted, November 2021

From the "Great Resignation" to cryptocurrency, La Nina, zoom fatigue, and fungal blooms, Franklin College faculty offered expertise, scholarship, and opinion in media platforms across the world. A sample of recent reporting and stories from the month of November and early December: Cameras off can lessen fatigue – Kristen Shockley, associate professor of psychology, quoted by Sales and Marketing Why it’s time for the term “minority” to…

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Noted and Quoted, October 2021

Franklin faculty members provided clarity and guidance in the media on a range of issues from climate change to workaholism over the course of October. As sampling of a few of the many recent stories: The “extra” Atlantic hurricane name list will likely be used soon — but not the Greek alphabet – Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of geography and atmospheric sciences Marshall Shepherd writing at Forbes Why Bezos, Musk, Page…

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New heat exposure model can protect citizens

Increasingly extreme heat threatens the health and comfort of city dwellers. That’s why researchers from the University of Georgia have developed a new dynamic heat exposure index that captures varying heat exposure within urban environments. “This is the first time a dynamic heat exposure model has been proposed, thanks in part to recent technological advances in sensing and big data,” said Deepak Mishra, professor, associate head of the…

photo of man in boat in the ocean
Franklin faculty co-lead new NSF center to study oceanic ecosystems

The University of Georgia, along with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will co-lead a new National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center that will pursue and promote a deeper understanding of the microbial worlds and chemical processes that swirl throughout the Earth’s oceanic ecosystems. The new Center for Chemical Currencies of a Microbial Planet (C-CoMP), based at Woods Hole in Falmouth, Massachusetts, is one of six…

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Project travels up estuaries to find tipping points

Department of geography researchers are collaborating with faculty from the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources and the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences on a four-year project supported by a grant from NOAA to connect marsh health with local economics and environmental impact. Our colleagues in the Warnell School report: The forces at work in a marsh require a delicate balancing act. Rising and falling tidewaters…

3-d-graphic rendering of root system on space background
Adapting Roots to a hotter planet could ease pressure on food supply

The shoots of plants get all of the glory, with their fruit and flowers and visible structure. But it's the portion that lies below the soil — the branching, reaching arms of roots and hairs pulling up water and nutrients — that interests plant physiologist and computer scientist, Alexander Bucksch, associate professor of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia. The health and growth of the root system has deep implications for our future.…

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Georgia Climate Project receives $300K Anderson Foundation grant

The Ray C. Anderson Foundation has awarded a $300,000 grant to Emory University and its partners for the next phase of the Georgia Climate Project, a state-wide consortium of nine colleges and universities working to strengthen Georgia’s ability to prepare for and respond to a changing climate.   The Georgia Climate Project was founded in 2018 as a collaborative effort among Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the…
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