Tags: biology

three headshot photos of people
Brickman, Thompson elected to AAAS

Three University of Georgia faculty members – two from the Franklin College – have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the organization announced this week, bringing the university to 45 total members of the exclusive group. Fellows are elected each year by the AAAS Council to recognize achievements that lead to scientific progress. This year, UGA’s new Fellows are Victor Thompson and Marguerite…

photo of woman, outdoors, day
Franklin triple-major seeks to serve her community through interdisciplinary approaches

Some may say that Rayna Carter has a lot on her plate for a second-year student, but it’s all about service for her. She wants to make her time at college count by using her time and skills to help as many people as possible.  “I've always been passionate, not just about leadership but about service,” she said. “That's really where my drive comes from: that desire to help people however I can.” Carter is triple-majoring in biology,…

photo of buildings, landscape at sunrise
Divisional Spotlight: Biological Sciences

Like the heart has four chambers, the Franklin College as the heart of UGA consists of five divisions. We want to begin the new year by highlighting this element of our organizational structure and the academic units contained in each division.  We begin today with the division of BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES! Spanning the broad field of natural sciences concerned with the study of life and living organisms, the Division of Biological Sciences…

headshots of two women
Outstanding Advisor Award Winners

Four University of Georgia academic advisors have received 2022-2023 Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advising Awards. The winners, including Yadira Castillo and Kestrina Shrestha from the Franklin College Office of Student Academic Services, were nominated by their Dean's Office and selected by a committee of three student representatives from SGA, along with previous advisor award winners. Yadira Castillo, academic advisor for…

side-by-side photos of men, each outdoors
10 students, alumni win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Two current University of Georgia undergraduate students are among the 10 campus recipients of 2023 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program helps ensure the quality, vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing full-time research-based master’s and…

photo of woman in greenhouse, day
Chung studies how microbes shape ecosystems

University of Georgia plant biologist and ecologist, Anny Chung studies the smaller things in life to understand how microscopic organisms can influence entire ecosystems. As an assistant professor jointly appointed in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department of Plant Pathology and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Plant Biology, Chung studies how plant-microbe interactions…

photo of group of people, outdoors, tree in background
The intersection of culture, biology in Hispanic youth development

The Hispanic community has been steadily growing in Georgia for many years, yet despite its increasing visibility, this community continues to be underrepresented in research around families and human development. Our colleagues in Research Communications share the story:   For Cynthia Suveg, this was a call to action. Suveg, professor of psychology in UGA’s Clinical Doctoral Program, has long been interested in bridging this research…

black and white photo of woman outside with pedestal
Cori Bargmann: Reshaping science to save lives

The story of UGA alumna Cori Bargmann, part of the Georgia Groundbreakers series that celebrates innovative and visionary faculty, students, alumni and leaders throughout the history of the University of Georgia – presents her profound, enduring impact on our state, our nation and the world. The story provides another important chapter of Women's history written across the history of the Franklin College and UGA: In the summer of 1979,…

photo of woman standing with laptop computer
Learning in the lab can continue at a distance

As most of the world came to a halt at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers were trying to find a way to engage students through research at a distance. University of Georgia professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Erin Dolan and her research team carried out a study to appraise the remote programs that grew from this challenge. The study evaluated 23 programs at colleges, universities, and research institutions…

photo of large green leaves
'Moonshot' for botany

A new Earth BioGenome Project paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlights the progress of plant genomics and includes a roadmap for the enormous task of sequencing the genomes of plants worldwide. The Earth BioGenome Project is a federated initiative promoting sequencing the genomes of all multicellular species on our planet. The paper, co-authored by professor of plant biology James…

photo of man with lab equipment in background
UGA's Art Edison leads $40M grant for NMR network

Researchers all over the world will have access to the University of Georgia’s expertise in nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, thanks to a new infrastructure funded by a $40 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The Network for Advanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, or NAN, will allow researchers to access ultra-high field nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers to study the structure, dynamics and interactions of biological…

photo of man in coat and tie on lake
Amazing student Alec Murphy

From teaching paddleboarding on Lake Herrick to leading trips through the Outdoor Recreation Center, Franklin double-major Alec Murphy (biology/psychology, Spanish minor) is committed to improving the lives of people around him. A future physician, he hopes to incorporate positive psychology research with medicine to make others happier and healthier: I volunteered at St. Mary’s Hospital in radiology and neurology departments and the wound…

photo of couple with crowns at football stadium, night, blurred crowd background
Alumnus awarded prestigious Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship

UGA Franklin alumnus Chip Chambers will attend medical school as a recipient of a Marcus L. Urann Fellowship by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi—the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines: Chambers is one of only six recipients nationwide to receive the prestigious $20,000 fellowship, named for the society’s founder. As a Urann Fellow, Chambers, of Watkinsville, …

illustration with person at computer and heads of people over map of US
Students pursue summer research through virtual REUs

REUs or Research Experiences for Undergraduates programs, funded by the National Science Foundation, typically offer students hands-on research experience through campus-based programs dedicated to a variety of topics. Shady Kuster is participating in an REU focused on genomics and computational biology that’s led by Jonathan Arnold. Additional REUs hosted online at UGA this summer include programs on nanotechnology and biomedicine, led by…

photo of man in front of fountain, day
Landon Clark named 2020 Goldwater Scholar

A third-year CURO Honors Scholar who is triple majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, genetics and biology, Landon Clark is among 396 undergraduates across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering: Clark’s long-term plans include pursuing an MD/PhD in…

photo of woman with laptop and up of coffee, seated
Amazing student: Emily Austin

The senior psychology major/biology minor from Douglasville is working toward fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a physician and bringing creativity and innovation to health care delivery: My sophomore year, I was selected to represent UGA as an Orientation leader, welcoming over 5,000 new students to the university alongside 14 incredible student leaders I now consider family. Orientation was an electrifying…

photo of buildings with budding tree in foreground
The future of Science Hill

Modernization and expansion to continue to fulfill the university's teaching and research missions, a critical part of campus will become the focus of renovations in the near future: “To remain one of the nation’s top research universities, the University of Georgia must maximize its available facilities devoted to scientific inquiry,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Our comprehensive plan combines new and renovated research facilities to…

photo of a flock of birds
State of the Art Symposium on Collective Behavior March 20

From the coordinated blinking of fireflies to the synchronized movement of flocks of birds or schools of fish and even the exploration pattern of roots in the soil, collective behavior characters all domains of biology – animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and viruses. The University of Georgia Institute of Bioinformatics presents the State of the Art Symposium on Collective Behavior Friday, March 20, 2020 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Masters Hall…

photo of woman in a park, day
Amazing student: Samantha Summers

Biology/Psychology double-major Samantha Summers explains her passion about “integrating sustainability in health care on both individual and systems levels,” and her plans as a doctor to improve the health literacy disparity in Georgia and beyond: Sustainability focuses on living in a way conscious of the generations of tomorrow. Unfortunately, many hear “sustainable” and tune out believing it to be only about climate change.…

photo of woman seated with the three other figures, outside, day
Amazing student: Madison Read

Phi Beta Kappa and Biochemistry Peer Learning Assistant Madison Read (Biology (B.S.) and Psychology (B.S.), Spanish minor) plans to serve as advocate to people as a doctor, helping them realize their full potential to take control of their health: During my freshman year, an older friend invited me to a CURE body meeting, and I fell in love with the mission of the organization. CURE at UGA is a campus organization that sponsors a…

black and white photo of two people in a lab, woman in foreground
Cori Bargmann: Reshaping science to save lives

UGA celebrates Franklin alumna Cori Bargmann (BS '81) as a Georgia Groundbreaker for her work revolutionizing research in neurobiology: For over a decade, Bargmann ran a lab at the University of California at San Francisco. Today, she is the Torsten N. Wiesel professor of genetics and neurosciences at Rockefeller University in New York, and she leads the Chan Zuckerberg Science Initiative in California. In 2003 she was…

photo of woman outdoors, day
Amazing student Cameron Liss

Senior biology and psychology double major Cameron Liss has used her many opportunities at UGA to pave a path to her future as a physician: One of my biggest highlights has been volunteering at Mercy Health Center. The summer after my freshman year, I decided to stay in Athens to take on the beast … Organic Chemistry. I met with my advisor, professor Karl Espelie, and I expressed that I wanted to do something more meaningful with my summer…

graphic with blue letter son white background, bug and cell illustration
Sharing the Knowledge: NIH Award Supports Expanded Genomics Data Resource

A team led by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Georgia provides thousands of researchers around the world with access to the Eukaryotic Pathogen Genomics Database (EuPathDB.org), a collection of resources for analyzing large-scale datasets associated with microbial pathogens. These include the parasites responsible for malaria, sleeping sickness, and toxoplasmosis; the fungi responsible for thrush, aspergillosis and…

photo woman outside, high above Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
12 UGA students, alumni receive Fulbright offers

12 UGA students and recent alumni have been selected to receive international travel-study grants offered through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the sixth straight year—and 10th time in the past 11 years—that UGA has received 10 or more offers. Of the 12, nine were able to take advantage of the opportunity. Four received academic and arts grants, and five will be teaching English. Eight are students or alumni with…

photo of woman in cheerleading outfit at stadium
Amazing student: Lindsey Leonard

Franklin double-major (psychology/biology) Lindsey Leonard’s passion is helping others to be both physically and mentally healthy. Her work with UGA Miracle has given her the chance to see how dedicated health care professionals can have a positive impact on the lives of others: I have realized over the last three years how amazing the faculty is at UGA and how dedicated they are to our professional betterment both in undergraduate and…
Subscribe to biology

Support Franklin College

We appreciate your financial support. Your gift is important to us and helps support critical opportunities for students and faculty alike, including lectures, travel support, and any number of educational events that augment the classroom experience. Click here to learn more about giving.

Every dollar given has a direct impact upon our students and faculty.