Tags: Human Nature
Turning research and discoveries by our faculty into new products and services that serve the public is a goal that touches several university priorities at once. And while this tranfer has been a reality at UGA for decades, the process has recently been enhanced by a National Science Foundation program that designates campuses as Innovation Corps Sites:
The I-Corps award will enable UGA to serve up to 30 new startup projects a year, adding to…
Scientists' fight against cryptosporidiosis recently reached a major milestone:
Infectious disease scientists from research institutions including the University of Georgia have reported the discovery and early validation of a drug that shows promise for treating cryptosporidiosis, a diarrheal disease that is a major cause of child mortality and for which there is no vaccine or effective treatment.
"Cryptosporidiosis is largely a disease of…
Seven years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, UGA researchers will embark on a new expedition to the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico:
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the deaths of 11 oil rig workers and ultimately the largest marine oil spill in history. As this environmental disaster recedes into history, researchers from institutions across the U.S. continue to study its enduring ecological…
Dorothy Carter, assistant professor of psychology, is the principal investigator on one of only seven proposals accepted by NASA's Human Research Program to support astronaut health on missions to Mars:
NASA's Human Research Program will fund seven proposals to help answer questions about astronaut health and performance during future long duration missions beyond low-Earth orbit. The selected proposals will investigate the impact of the space…
A diverse set of physical and chemical cues act upon individual cells to ensure coordinated multicellular behavior. Using the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, a team led by University of Georgia and Rice University researchers has devised a data-driven model of the mechanisms that guide elaborate self-organization at the cellular level.
The research, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a blueprint for…
They follow the sun's path throughout the day - hence their name in the Romance languages - and this news about the sunflower genome turns our attention to a new paper in Nature:
[UGA] researchers are part of an international team that has published the first sunflower genome sequence. This new resource will assist future research programs using genetic tools to improve crop resilience and oil production.
They published their findings today in…
Today in the journal Nature, a UGA research team led by Takahiro Ito published important new work that identifies a new drug target for the two most common types of myeloid leukemia, including a way to turn back the most aggressive form of the disease:
By blocking a protein called BCAT1, the researchers were able to stop cancer cell growth in mice and human blood samples from leukemia patients.
The BCAT1 protein activates the metabolism of a…
Shawn Foster, an Honors student majoring in cognitive science and linguistics, was one of 20 students nationwide selected as a Beinecke Scholar:
He is the first UGA student to receive the honor, which awards $34,000 to third-year students with demonstrated financial need who will pursue graduate studies in the arts, humanities or social sciences.
Foster plans to earn a doctorate in linguistics. A first-generation college student, he is from the…
The Franklin College celebrated staff and presented Staff Excellence in Service Awards at a reception in the Miller Learning Center on May 9:
Franklin College Staff Excellence in Service Awards are designed to honor staff members for their excellent performance outstanding contributions to units in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Nominees are evaluated and selected based on five criteria: their excellence in fulfilling job…
University of Georgia Regents' Professor Michael R. Strand has received one of the highest honors a scientist can receive-election to the National Academy of Sciences:
Strand, who holds an appointment in the entomology department of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and an affiliated appointment in the genetics department of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is UGA's eighth member of the National Academies, which…
Udall and Goldwater Scholars, an HBO movie role, and a slew of teaching and research awards highlight the April kudos for Franklin students and faculty:
University of Georgia juniors and Honors students Morgan Gibbs (from Peachtree City, majoring in chemistry and minoring in pharmaceutical sciences) and Mallory Harris (from Dunwoody, is pursuing mathematical sciences with a concentration in computational biology) are among 240 students across…
Franklin faculty and students continue to be quoted by and to author articles across worldwide media, including all major print publications. A sample from the past few weeks:
Research by Archeology graduate student Sammantha Nicole Holder had her featured in The Guardian (reconstructing the diet of Napoleon's Grand Army)
The other side of Confederate Memorial Day (Spalding Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus James Cobb) – Time
Four…
Georgia legislators passed reforms to Georgia’s criminal justice system in 2017, but the complex web of fines, fees, and surcharges embedded in Georgia’s legal code continues to create significant hardship for the state’s poorest citizens.
A team of researchers from nine universities including UGA conducted a comprehensive review of monetary sanctions - fines, court fees, restitution, surcharges, and corrections costs - in the criminal justice…
"Rising ocean temperatures are changing the way coastal ecosystems-and probably terrestrial ecosystems, too-process nitrogen," said Hollibaugh, Distinguished Research Professor of Marine Sciences in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "Much of the global nitrogen cycle takes place in the coastal zone."
Hollibaugh and researcher Sylvia Schaefer found midsummer peaks in concentrations of nitrite alongside massive increases in numbers of…
"Thunderstorm asthma is a very complex phenomenon and involves interactions of allergens like grass pollens, thunderstorms and susceptible groups of people," said lead author Andrew J. Grundstein, professor of geography in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "Our study may help anticipate significant thunderstorms by employing a technique that helps identify wind magnitudes commonly associated with thunderstorm asthma outbreaks."
The…
On the homestretch to commencement, Development and Alumni Relations features on students, faculty and alumni donors highlight some soon-to-graduate students and their extraordinary UGA experiences. Joy Peltier has certainly made the most of her time at UGA:
As a recipient of the university’s foremost undergraduate scholarship, the Foundation Fellowship, all of Joy’s ambitions have been realized. Now, as she pursues a joint bachelor’s…
Digital humanities at UGA recently received a boost among faculty when it became eligible for the Study in a Second Discipline fellowship from the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. The impetus was largely due, McGinn said, to a push by Roxanne Eberle, an associate professor of English in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. McGinn is currently working with Eberle each week on a project analyzing the…
Graduate assistants working with the Georgia Debate Union Becca Steiner and Clay Stewart were recently recognized by the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) as outstanding graduate student coaches.
Steiner, a PhD Candidate in Communication Studies from San Diego, California, and Stewart, an MA Candidate in Communication Studies from the Atlanta area, received their awards at the Southeast Cross Examination Debate…
Congratulations to UGA juniors and Honors Program students Morgan Gibbs and Mallory Harris, who are among 240 students across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering:
Gibbs and Harris are each studying in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Gibbs, from Peachtree City, is majoring in chemistry and minoring in…
Congratulations to Distinguished Research Professor of Cellular Biology and Barbara and Sanford Orkin/Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Roberto Docampo, who has been named the University of Georgia's recipient of the 2017 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award:
The award, which is administered by provosts at the 14 universities in the SEC, recognizes professors with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship who…
It's not even Honors Week yet and the accolades for Franklin students, faculty and alumni are already rolling in. A sample of awards, fellowships and scholarly activity from the month of March:
UGA Skidaway Institute research paper selected for research spotlight, authored by associate professor of Department of Marine Sciences Aron Stubbins
UGA alumna Patricia Andrews Fearon was one of 36 Americans to be named a 2017 recipient of…
Two Franklin faculty members received major career honors this week, campus-wide and international awards. First, University of Georgia Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Gregory H. Robinson has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry:
A nonprofit organization with a heritage that spans 175 years, the Royal Society of Chemistry is the United Kingdom's professional body for chemical scientists and the…
Emory, Harvard and UGA went 1-2-3 at the American Debate Association national championship tournament held recently at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Nathan Rice (sophomore from Roswell) and Johnnie Stupek (sophomore from Sandy Springs) debated teams from around the country, including victories over the University of Minnesota, Indiana University, and the University of Kentucky. Other schools competing at the tournament include…
Researchers have developed a new way to identify and sort stem cells that may one day allow clinicians to restore vision to people with damaged corneas using the patient's own eye tissue:
The cornea is a transparent layer of tissue covering the front of the eye, and its health is maintained by a group of cells called limbal stem cells. But when these cells are damaged by trauma or disease, the cornea loses its ability to self-repair.
"Damage to…
Associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Paula Lemons conducts research that aims to improve science education across the nation while helping students at UGA develop independence, teamwork and problem solving skills:
When did you come to UGA and what brought you here?
In 2007, during a transition in my career, I met Peggy Brickman, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Plant Biology, at a conference. She told me…