Tags: research

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Deer teeth unveil climate mystery of the Mayans

Though causes of the civilizational collapse that took place in the Maya lowlands of southeastern Mexico and Central America during the Terminal Classic Period (1200 – 900 before present) remain uncertain, changing precipitation patterns have long been suspected. Now, a new study from the University of Georgia and the Florida Museum of Natural History establishes fossilized white-tailed deer teeth as part of the climate record, a reliable proxy…

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Mental health and imprisonment

Sociology doctoral student Timothy Edgemon co-authored "Inmate Mental Health and the Pains of Imprisonment," a paper discussing the large majority suffering from poor mental health among the 2 million people currently incarcerated in the United States. He spoke about the paper with public radio station WRVO in New York: Prison isn't supposed to be a fun place. It's meant to be depriving. It's…

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June research news and expertise notes

Even during the quiet days of June, Franklin College faculty expertise never sleeps! Here are a few of the many articles written by or featuring the work of faculty members from across the college over the past month:   Meteorologists fear 5G network could take forecasting back to the 1980s, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography Marshall Shepherd speaking on CBS This…

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Katrien Devos recognized as Fellow of Crop Science Society of America

Professor of crop and soil sciences and plant biology Katrien M. Devos has been named a Fellow of the Crop Science Society of America: Her nomination and selection as a CSSA Fellow recognizes a career dedicated to breaking new ground in understanding the genetics and evolutionary biology of crops and in the search for more resilient and sustainable crop varieties. From mapping the genomes of orphan crops, like finger and foxtail millet, to…

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Using swine models for neurological research

Researchers in the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center have used an imaging method normally reserved for humans to analyze brain activity in live agricultural swine models, and they have discovered that pig brains are even better platforms than previously thought for the study of human neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s: By using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), the researchers…

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Students, alumni win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Seven UGA graduate students earned highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships this year, and six UGA alumni also have earned the fellowship, which includes three years of financial support that includes an annual stipend of $34,000 plus a $12,000 cost of education allowance and networking and professional development opportunities: Doctoral student Jordan Chapman said he was attracted to the…

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Roberts-Galbraith receives McKnight Scholar Award

University of Georgia faculty member Rachel Roberts-Galbraith has received the 2019 McKnight Scholar Award, which recognizes scientists in the early stages of their careers working in the field of neuroscience. An assistant professor of cellular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Roberts-Galbraith is the first UGA faculty member to receive the award.  “Dr. Roberts-Galbraith’s studies are a unique combination of…

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Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies will investigate planet’s integrated system

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a national consortium of academic and nonprofit institutions, with leadership from the University of Maryland College Park (UMD) and North Carolina State University focused on improving our understanding of how the atmosphere, ocean, land, and biosphere of Earth interact with each other and with human activity as an integrated system. The Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth…

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CAREER research program to focus on active learning

One key to improving undergraduate education and student achievement across the STEM disciplines, as well as more broadly across the campus, is the integration of evidence-based teaching strategies – using what works most effectively for student learning. Now, a University of Georgia faculty member will lead a five-year, national scale research and education project to better understand and support the use of evidence-based teaching in…

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Kudos, April 2019

Honors week, new grants and a Guggenheim Fellowship headline the accolades for Franklin faculty announced during the month of April: The 2019 CURO symposium’s first day also included a keynote address by Jennifer McDowell, professor and chair of the Behavioral and Brain Sciences Program in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, on the topic of “Minding Your Brain.” McDowell spoke to a packed house about the…

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Samantha Joye named Regents’ Professor

Samantha Joye, an internationally recognized University of Georgia marine scientist who studies the complex interplay between microbes and large-scale ecological processes in the oceans, has been named Regents’ Professor, effective July 1: Joye is Athletic Association Professor of Arts and Sciences in the department of marine sciences, part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Regents’ Professorships are bestowed by the Board of Regents…

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New open-access data resource supports collaboration in global infectious disease research

An international team of researchers has launched the Clinical Epidemiology Database, an open-access online resource enabling investigators to maximize the utility and reach of their data and to make optimal use of information released by infectious disease researchers around the world: The development of ClinEpiDB has been led by the University of Pennsylvania’s David Roos, the E. Otis Kendall Professor of Biology in the …

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NIH provides long-term funding for Escalante microbiology lab

The National Institutes of Health announced a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) granted to UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of microbiology. MIRA grants are designed to increase the efficiency of NIH funding by providing investigators with greater stability and flexibility, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances…

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Simons receives SEC Faculty Achievement Award

Distinguished Research Professor Ronald L. Simons has been named the University of Georgia’s recipient of the 2019 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award: The SEC award recognizes professors with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship and is administered by provosts at each of the 14 universities in the conference. Simons, who is a faculty member in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ department of …

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'Statistical significance' reaches its limits

Scientists are re-assessing one of their own most fundamental measurements: the use of statistical significance in research findings (as well as funding). An editorial co-authored by UGA statistics professor Nicole Lazar and published this week in a special issue of The American Statistician urges scientists to stop using the term: The issue, Statistical Inference in the 21st Century: A World Beyond P<0.05, calls for an…

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Georgia Humanities Symposium

UGA and the Franklin College welcome delegates from around the state and region to the Georgia Museum of Art on Friday March 8 for the Georgia Humanities Symposium, the first of three annual meetings during which participants will share experiences of projects, grants, and innovations in humanities research and teaching: The Willson Center and Georgia Humanities will host the Georgia Humanities Symposium, made…

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Two Franklin College professors win 2019 Sloan Fellowships

Two UGA faculty members have been awarded a prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship to support their research for the next two years, the Sloan Foundation announced on Feb. 19: Elizabeth Harvey of marine sciences and Rachel Roberts-Galbraith of cellular biology will each receive $70,000 from their fellowships over the next two years. Two of 126 Sloan Fellows nationwide for 2019, the assistant professors represent just the 12th and 13th Sloan…

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New comparative study on DNA modifications across the fungal tree of life

DNA activity can change without changing the sequence of the DNA segment itself. Gene activation and inactivation can be the basis for how species produce unique individuals. Some processes that change gene activity are well understood in the context of model species. However, scientists are still grappling with how some processes, like DNA methylation, change gene activity in many diverse organisms. Broader theories applicable to all species…

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Ehrlich recognized for early career work

UGA faculty member Katie Ehrlich is a recipient of the 2019 Association for Psychological Science Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions. The award, named for the first elected APS president, celebrates the many new and leading-edge ideas coming out of the most creative and promising investigators who embody the future of psychological science. Ehrlich, assistant professor in the UGA Franklin College of…

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UGA to collaborate on Haitian library conservation project

History faculty member Jennifer Palmer, along with Julia Gaffield of Georgia State University and Conservateur-en-Chef of the Bibliothèque Hatïenne des Pères du Saint-Esprit Patrick Tardieu, will collaborate on a project to digitize materials printed before 1820 during the colonial, revolutionary, and early independence periods in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). The materials are housed at the Bibliothèque hatïenne…

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Georgia Coastal Ecosystems research program renewed

Georgia Coastal Ecosystems, a research program based at the University of Georgia Marine Institute, was renewed for another six years by the National Science Foundation with $6.7 million in funding: The award marks the third renewal of GCE’s long-term ecological research, or LTER, grant from NSF and ensures that the group’s research will continue into its third decade from its base at the Marine Institute’s headquarters on Sapelo…

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Noted and quoted, January 2019

Franklin College faculty appeared in a wide variety of media over the month of January: New method to classify schizophrenia symptoms should improve care - assistant professor of psychology Gregory Strauss quoted by Psych Central   Scientists could engineer a spicy tomato. Is it worth it? Research by professor of plant biology Esther van der Knaap reported in Popular Science, Tahlequah Daily Press…

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Health Psychology Professorship honors past faculty member

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of psychology will add a new professorship this year in memory of a former Professor Emerita who studied health psychology in older adults and was among the first to document the interconnected challenges confronted by the elderly and their caregivers.   The Gail M. Williamson Distinguished Professorship in Health Psychology will bring a senior researcher to the department who will…

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Diverse lineages of human pathogen live on old oaks

Commensalism is a term for one kind of biological relationship between species in which members of one gain benefits while those of the other neither benefit nor are harmed, contrasted with mutualism or parasitism. One obligate commensal is a common human fungal pathogen, the yeast Candida albicans, and the focus of new paper by assistant professor of plant biology Douda Bensasson published in…

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$2M NIH grant for mass spectrometer

The National Institutes of Health has awarded University of Georgia researchers $1.956 million for a high-resolution mass spectrometer that will enhance capabilities for scientists in many fields across campus: The award by the NIH High End Instrumentation program, which provides grants in the range of $600,000 to $2 million for a variety of expensive instrumentation, including MRI imagers, electron microscopes, DNA sequencers, and mass…
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