Faculty in the Media, February 2015

Weather, unrest around the world, linguistics, anti-vaccine outbreaks, Franklin faculty expertise is in high demand across all media platforms. A sampling from the month of February:

Q&A with Valerie Babb, Franklin professor of English and director of UGA’s Institute of African American Studies – Red & Black

English professor Bill Kretzschmar was interviewed on CNN regarding linguistics analysis of an ISIS Jihadist who speaks on videos depicting the execution of captives.

Heat, pollution, and skyscrapers cause cities to have more thunderstorms. “The discovery that urban environments can create their own storms and rainfall: Not new at all,” says Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Professor and director of UGA’s Atmospheric Sciences program

UNG begins Civil War series with focus on Georgia – Gainesville Times article quotes professor of history John Inscoe

History of lynchings. sociology professor emeritus E. M. Beck is quoted in a New York Times article about lynchings in the South.

Crime-scene selfies: Generally a bad idea. Self-incrimination via social media is becoming common, reports The Daily Beast. “One of the reasons people take selfies is self-promotion,” said psychology professor Keith Campbell.   

Buried in Boston. Two of Boston’s largest snowstorms ever recorded have occurred in the past two weeks, reports USA Today. “Higher temperatures warm the oceans and allow the atmosphere to hold a greater amount of water vapor,” said Brad Johnson, a meteorologist in the department of geography.

Research by UGA assistant sociology professor Sarah Shannon is featured in a Minneapolis Star-Tribune article about a new Minnesota law that will make it easier to expunge criminal records.

Former Mobile, Alabama elementary principal’s cheating allegations investigated – WALA-TV report quotes Jaxk Reeves, professor of statistics and director of the consulting center at UGA

UGA’s Marshall Shepherd to moderate White House panel – Shepherd, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at UGA and host of the Weather Channel’s “Weather Geeks” program, will moderate the Monday event honoring champions of climate education.

Research by professor of physics and astronomy Philip Stancil was featured in the 2104 issue of Discover magazine

How to eradicate anti-vaccine outbreaks – Bloomberg News column written by Stephen Mihm, an associate professor of history

Why exercise reduces stress – Research by a team led by psychology professor Philip Holmes into the link between long-term stress resilience and exercise is reported in MedicalXpress.com.