Tags: faculty

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New comparative study on DNA modifications across the fungal tree of life

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…

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Ehrlich recognized for early career work

UGA faculty member Katie Ehrlich is a recipient of the 2019 Association for Psychological Science Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions. The award, named for the first elected APS president, celebrates the many new and leading-edge ideas coming out of the most creative and promising investigators who embody the future of psychological science. Ehrlich, assistant professor in the UGA Franklin College of…

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UGA to collaborate on Haitian library conservation project

History faculty member Jennifer Palmer, along with Julia Gaffield of Georgia State University and Conservateur-en-Chef of the Bibliothèque Hatïenne des Pères du Saint-Esprit Patrick Tardieu, will collaborate on a project to digitize materials printed before 1820 during the colonial, revolutionary, and early independence periods in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). The materials are housed at the Bibliothèque hatïenne…

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Creating coursework for cell manufacturing

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…

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Georgia Coastal Ecosystems research program renewed

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…

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Faculty Artist Series Concert: Mozart on Chinese New Year

World-renowned performer and University of Georgia piano faculty David Fung will take the Ramsey Hall stage on February 5 at 7:30 in celebration of the Chinese New Year as part of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s Faculty Artist Series: Lauded by TheWashington Post for his “ravishing and simply gorgeous” performances, audiences will want to mark their calendars for this concert. “The program combines my passion and…

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Noted and quoted, January 2019

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…

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Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin selected as 2019 TED Fellow

 Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, assistant professor in the department of theatre and film studies, has been selected as a TED Fellow, joining a class of 20 change-makers from around the world to deliver a talk on the TED stage this April in Vancouver: Dr. Amma was selected for her original and hyper-collaborative approach to creating artistic works based on archival research for the stage and screen, including her new musical in…

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Health Psychology Professorship honors past faculty member

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of psychology will add a new professorship this year in memory of a former Professor Emerita who studied health psychology in older adults and was among the first to document the interconnected challenges confronted by the elderly and their caregivers.   The Gail M. Williamson Distinguished Professorship in Health Psychology will bring a senior researcher to the department who will…

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Diverse lineages of human pathogen live on old oaks

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…

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Happy New Year!

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences wishes you a safe, happy and healthy New Year.

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The year at Franklin

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,…

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Marshall Shepherd on TED.com

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…

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New study upends timeline of Iroquoian history

New research by an international team based at UGA raises questions about the timing and nature of early interactions between Indigenous Peoples and Europeans in North America: The European side of first contact with indigenous people and settlement in northeast North America is well known from European sources. Until now it's been assumed that the finds of dated European artifacts provide a timeline for the indigenous peoples and…

Outdoor photo of seven people on steps of a building
Anderson Foundation support for statewide climate project

Important news for The Georgia Climate Project, a statewide consortium of university researchers focused on helping Georgia localities facing the challenges of a changing climate: The Ray C. Anderson Foundation has awarded a $650,000 grant to Emory University to advance the Georgia Climate Project, a state-wide consortium co-founded by Emory, the University of Georgia, and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and joined by Agnes Scott…

photo of a storm on the Skidaway intercoastal
$10M weather and climate project will refine models, forecasting

UGA geography faculty member Gabriel Kooperman will lead one of 13 new DOE projects to enhance and refine computer models that help scientists understand weather patterns: This past July, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $10 million in funding for 13 projects aimed at further enhancing one of the world’s most sophisticated computer models for understanding weather and climate patterns. The projects will support…

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Franklin College faculty members elected to AAAS

Six UGA faculty members, including three from the Franklin College, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed by their peers for “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” These six faculty members are among 416 new AAAS Fellows who will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue—representing science and…

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Noted and Quoted, November 2018

Too much screen time, the Deepwater Horizon spill, and Thanksgiving were a few of the leading headlines over the last month that quoted and reported Franklin College faculty experts: The great family exodus – associate professor of history Stephen Mihm quoted in a news story on families fleeing the city at – Axios, and reported as‘Increasingly in big cities, youth isn’t being served’ in Crain’s Cleveland Business  …

rendering of a new building
New Interdisciplinary STEM building

With the infrastructure demands of science and technology research collaborations reaching higher levels each year, the university will break ground on the new Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Research Building at 2 p.m. on Nov. 27. The groundbreaking marks the beginning of the construction of the ISTEM Research Building, which will house engineering, chemistry and related disciplines to promote…

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New study opens possibilities for smaller, more powerful light-control in quantum materials

The transfer of energy, as light or information, from one point to another is a big part of the science behind the phone in your hand and the images on your screen. Manipulating light wavelengths to transmit information represents the next frontier in optoelectronics, though many obstacles remain. Among the primary challenges in using light for information processing is the difficulty of squeezing light to very small space to fit in ever-…

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New Russian Flagship program at UGA

The power and importance of language skills, from global collaboration and entrepreneurship to defense and diplomatic capabilities, continues to grow and expand at UGA: The development of global partnerships and a growing Eastern European economy have created an expansion of job opportunities for professionals with Russian language skills in fields ranging from the biological and mathematical sciences to the social sciences and…

photo of mathematical model of 4-D trisections
Design + Mathematics: Math Outreach Design Lab

  An image from a model created in an active learning course co-taught by mathematics professor David Gay and associate professor of graphic design Moon Jung Jang appeared as the cover of the October 23 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.   The model in the illustration was created by 3 math majors and one graphic design major, working collaboratively in the course "Math Outreach Design Lab.”…

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Arts in the 'Spotlight'

The scope of the fine and performing arts at UGA emanates from our robust degree programs in art, music, dance and theatre and film studies, and extends to the state's official art museum and one of the nation's most influential literary journals. The vision of Lamar Dodd and Hugh Hodgson that placed a premiere importance for the role of the arts at the state's flagship institution has come to fruition and continues to…

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Focus on the Faculty: Elizabeth Wright

Professor of Spanish Elizabeth Wright builds research opportunities into her teaching that help students develop skills that will last a lifetime—whether as educators, scholars, entrepreneurs, public servants or world travelers: My scholarship ponders an abiding paradox of empire building in the early modern era (circa 1490–1800). That is, the expanding horizons of the Spanish monarchy—both geographic and cultural—coincided with the…

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Kudos, October 2018

New grants and awards, number one in debate and the unveiling of a portrait of Mary Frances Early headline our kudos for the month of October. Congratulations to faculty, students and alumni on their recent accolades and accomplishments: The U.S. Department of Education awarded $1.7 million in support of the University of Georgia Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute(LACSI) to expand research, teaching and public service…
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