February Kudos

Chemistry professor Richard Dluhy is part of a team of UGA scientists who recently received a $1.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further flu research. Their method uses nanotechnology-based lasers that can greatly speed the prediction of impending flu strains and with greater accuracy.

Research by department of sociology Ph.D. candidate David R. Johnson was the subject of an Wired Campus story in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

UGA presented four awards to community members working toward equality, diversity and as part of the 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Breakfast sponsored by UGA, the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the Clarke County School District. Franklin College is home to two of the four award winners: Mark Farmer, professor of cellular biology and chair of biological sciences, and Stewart T. Zellars, a UGA senior majoring in economics and statistics.  The 2013 President's Fulfilling the Dream Awards is given for work in the Athens-Clarke County community to make King's dream of equality and justice a reality.

Shanta Dhar, an assistant professor of chemistry, received the Targeting Mitochondria 2012 Award for Scientific Contribution from the Third World Congress on Targeting Mitochondria and the International Society of Antioxidant in Nutrition and Health, the highest honor given by the conference.

Professor of stratigraphic paleobiology in the department of geology Steven Holland authored an article published in the journal Nature discussing correlations between environmental changes and extinction.

Geography professor and climate scientist Marshall Shepherd was focus of an article in an Athens Banner Herald series about prominent African Americans living in the Athens area.

On Feb.1, professor Brian Boe of the department of mathematics, began a 3-year term as Associate Secretary for the Southeastern Section of the American Mathematical Society.

The UGA Bioenergy Systems Research Institute and the Office of Sustainability have selected 10 undergraduate students to serve as UGA’s University Scholars at the inaugural Southeastern Conference Symposium. Of the ten students, six are from the Franklin College.

It was announced that Henry "Fritz" Schaefer, Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry, will receive the Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists for his 'major influence on advances in chemistry.'

Rebecca R. Sharitz, professor emerita from the Franklin College and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory was named to the inaugural list of Fellows of the Ecological Society of America.

NASA internship finds a home at UGA in the Franklin College’s department of geography.

Carrie Givens, a recent graduate of the UGA marine science doctoral program, will join 49 students from across the country in the prestigious Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship starting this February.

Stephen Kowalewski, a professor of anthropology, is overseeing a $25,000 Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation on behalf of doctoral student Yanxi Wang.

Deepak Mishra, an assistant professor of geography, received funding for research and education involving remote sensing of coastal areas. The National Science Foundation awarded Mishra $32,538 and he also received $25,000 from NASA.

Two of the three research proposals recently elected for funding from the CDC are Franklin-based projects. Boris Striepen and Rick Tarleton, both professors of cellular biology, will collaborate with CDC researchers over the next two years on preventing critically neglected human and animal diseases.