Eminent Scholars at UGA

Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholars at the University of Georgia are engaged in groundbreaking scientific research that not only tackles grand challenges facing the world, but also has the potential to create jobs:

Since 1990, the nonprofit Georgia Research Alliance has partnered with the state's research universities to recruit world-class scientists who foster science- and technology-based economic development. At UGA, these scholars have enhanced the university's research capabilities and impact.

For Georgia to create "high-value, knowledge-based jobs," the state's leading universities must produce the kind of research outcomes that can develop new industry, said C. Michael Cassidy, GRA president and CEO.

"We're building the pipeline of pre-eminent research to generate ideas that can be launched into new companies, create jobs, and build the economy for the state," Cassidy said.

GRA faculty bring expertise in subjects ranging from bioinformatics and crop genomics to vaccines and viral immunity, and they establish major programs like the Center for Molecular Medicine, led by Stephen Dalton, GRA Eminent Scholar of Molecular Cell Biology.

Since 2015, UGA has recruited five GRA Eminent Scholars; such rapid growth has contributed to an astounding 33 percent cumulative increase in research expenditures during that period. 

The current issue of Georgia magazine, where this feature originated, well reflects the breadth of Franklin College research and instructional activity and its overall impact at UGA. Three of the seven Eminent Scholars in the feature - C.J. Tsai, Stephen Dalton, and Arthur Edison - have appointments in Franklin departments and centers, which allows colleagues to leverage their extraordinary expertise on a range of research endeavors beyond their own work. Read the article, learn about their work, and get a better understanding of what the university and the GRA is doing to attract the best minds to Georgia to address some of the most pressing issues facing the world.