Tags: Earth
Mirror-like optical illusion in the deep Pacific Ocean and the world's first ever gene-edited lizards lead the many media mentions of research and scholarship by Franklin faculty during April. A sample:
Why our youth should be celebrated not mocked – a climate case study, writes Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor Marshall Forbes in his regular column at Forbes
Church in the Maelstrom: A…
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…
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…
Over Spring break, an International Scientific Conference on "Past Plant Diversity, Climate Change and Mountain Conservation," organized under the Belmont Forum's VULPES project, convened a five-day meeting at the University of Cuenca, in the city of Cuenca – a World Cultural Heritage Site, in southern Ecuador. The conference, organized by professor and undergraduate coordinator in the department of geography Fausto…
Faculty, alumni and 'statistical significance' lead our media mentions for the month of March:
Goldman’s “flexible” dress code takes a cue from Silicon Valley – associate professor of history Stephen Mihm at – Yahoo! Finance
UGA experts discuss future of CRISPR gene research after international controversy – R&B quotes Michael Terns, distinguished research professor in the department of biochemistry and…
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…
Rethinking the recycling challenge is the focus of a new grant to UGA researchers from the Walmart Foundation:
An $800,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation to the University of Georgia New Materials Institute will help researchers understand how multilayer plastic packaging biodegrades and also help manufacturers in their attempts to design and select more sustainable materials. The research funded by the grant will seek to yield…
Leading-edge plant science research brings greater insight into how trees react to stress and how that can affect Georgia's economy:
In addition to contributing to a wide range of construction trades, this also includes paper and bioenergy industries and supports ecological benefits that range from environment stabilization to wildlife habitats. Because this region extends through Georgia and has a significant impact on the state’s economy…
An extraordinary diversity of subject matter expertise shared in the media during February by Franklin faculty, on hot topics of the day and perennial issues from human affairs to climatic challenges. Here's a sample of the great work by public-spirited scholars, outside the classroom:
Freda Scott Giles,associate professor emerita of theatre and film studies and African-American studies, presents lecture…
Come explore one of the most fascinating disciplines on campus as we celebrate World Anthropology Day today, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Baldwin Hall:
Anthropology Day is a day for anthropologists to celebrate their discipline while sharing it with the world. The Department of Anthropology at UGA has organized activities and displays to showcase how this field helps in understanding humanity's past, present and future.
All members of the public and…
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…
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…
Research teams at UGA and the University of Pennsylvania, along with four private firms, are taking part in an 18-month federally sponsored project led by the Georgia Institute of Technology that will develop a much-needed curriculum to train workers for the fledgling cell manufacturing industry:
The curriculum development project is part of the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, or NIIMBL, which the U.S…
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…
Research scientists Irene Glowinski and Jim Vaught have established the Christopher Henry Vaught Scholarship in Science Policy at the University of Georgia. The scholarship, named in memory of Glowinski and Vaught’s son Christopher who lived for only 13 days in 1988, will encourage UGA undergraduates to spend a semester in Washington, D.C. and learn about the myriad aspects of science policy beyond what they might be exposed to on the Athens…
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…
The University of Georgia Laboratory of Archeology, established in the late 1940's, marked another important milestone in its distinguished history on January 18 at the celebration of its new location in Athens.
Organized within the department of anthropology, the Laboratory provides opportunities for students of varied backgrounds to engage in archaeology and history, serving the intellectual growth of our undergraduate and graduate…
During fall 2018, UGA Libraries and the Office of Research sponsored the Capturing Science Contest. The contest, now in its second year, challenged UGA students to communicate STEM concepts using any media or genre. Organizers received 36 submissions covering STEM concepts in a variety of disciplines, including games, videos, poetry, art, illustrations, photography, …
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…
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…
UGA alumna Betsy Fretwell AB ’89, MPA ’91 provides an inspiring example of impact, intuition and service:
As part of her high school’s Government for a Day program, Fretwell fatefully pulled the position of city manager from a hat. After a day spent in a position she had never even heard of, playing pretend for her city government, a seed was planted in her mind.
Fretwell didn’t always intend to join the public service arena…
This is the 222nd post of 2018 on the Franklin Chronicles, and what an incredible year it has been for UGA's oldest, largest and most academically diverse college. We look back:
17(!) Amazing students [and counting]
Eight Focus on the Faculty features
And from January though today, a plethora of rich activity that defines the modern academy - groundbreaking scholarship, outreach, research, performance, milestones, new initiatives, books,…
A handful of ambitious University of Georgia students set out three years ago to launch UGA into space, and their work has launched a campus initiative to push the boundaries of space systems development:
Self-described “geeks” Caleb Adams BS ’18 and Hollis Neel BS ’17 were two of the handful of friends drawn together by their knack for tackling tech and software conundrums.
“I was looking for the most difficult…
How do students find their way into the laboratory? Integrating research experiences into lab courses, where students are tackling a problem related to a faculty member’s ongoing research, can introduce undergraduates to a world of career paths and opportunities as they come to understand research. Students learning research skills in the context of solving real research problems is the focus of work by Georgia Athletic…
A TED talk by Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences J. Marshall Shepherd is featured today on TED.com, 3 kinds of bias that shape your worldview:
What shapes our perceptions (and misperceptions) about science? In an eye-opening talk, meteorologist J. Marshall Shepherd explains how confirmation bias, the Dunning-Kruger effect and cognitive dissonance impact what we…