Tags: faculty

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Antifungal resistance: From “Big Chicken” to Big Tulip

The Genes to Genomes blog reports on recent research by UGA fungal biologists Michelle Momany and Marin Brewer, who reported in their findings that Aspergillus fumigatus isolated from clinical settings is resistant to agricultural fungicides. Infections have long been a deadly problem for hospital patients. Though modern medicine has an impressive array of antimicrobial drugs at its disposal, pathogens continue to evolve resistance,…

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UGA establishes School of Computing

Shortly after the close of the Spring semester, the University of Georgia gave the final approval to create the School of Computing, a new academic unit to be jointly administered by the Franklin College and the College of Engineering. In response to rising student enrollment and the growing role of computing in a range of fields, the University of Georgia has elevated its longstanding department of computer science to a School of Computing…

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Schmitz nominated for Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists

University of Georgia faculty member Robert Schmitz was recently chosen as a finalist for a national award for young scientists. The Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists is the world’s largest unrestricted prize honoring early career scientists and engineers. Schmitz is a plant biologist who performs groundbreaking research on plant epigenetics—the chemical modifications to DNA and associated proteins that alter gene expression—to…

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UGA faculty participate in ‘Reflections on Race’ workshop

The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Institutional Diversity sponsored the inaugural “Reflections on Race” Workshop on May 18-19 on the UGA campus, an effort led by Franklin College Associate Dean Jean Martin-Williams. Nine faculty members from nine departments representing all tenured and untenured ranks were selected to participate in the workshop, which included a distinguished group of…

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The complexity of mixed-race ancestry

Some people see themselves as part of a sole racial group, others identify with multiple groups Mixed-race ancestry, a widespread fact of the human population for centuries, does not uniquely translate to any specific racial identity. A new study authored by a University of Georgia sociologist describes the experiences, beliefs, and personal characteristics such as skin color that play a role in self-identification. While the current era…

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Bioexpression & Fermentation Facility: BFF to Georgia’s bioeconomy

Biomanufacturing has been around for thousands of years, though it wasn’t called that when our ancestors were making beer, wine, cheese, bread and vinegar. Mankind has long understood the value of fermentation, the metabolic process of converting things like sugar or starch into alcohol or acid. At the University of Georgia, biomanufacturing is based at the on-campus Bioexpression and Fermentation Facility, which has been churning out…

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Waste management can reduce greenhouse gasses

Earth Day 2022 – Make it Count The cycle of producing, consuming and eliminating waste in a closed system (a.k.a. Earth) is the primary challenge of our time. Sustainable stewardship of the products and processes common to everyday life is increasingly coming the fore as we reach limits on waste management practices and recycling capacity, and witness the changing conditions these limits precipitate. Scientists, governments and private industry…

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New study shows resilience of early coastal communities in Georgia

Archaeologists have hypothesized that more than 4,500 years ago, communities on barrier islands along the southeastern coastlines of the North America were abruptly abandoned due to a sudden shift in climate. But new research from the University of Georgia Laboratory of Archaeology indicates that environmental change was happening both during the settlement of these island villages and—over centuries longer than previously…

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UGA’s Saunt awarded 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship

Claudio Saunt, Regents’ Professor and Russell Professor of American History in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a 2022 Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Saunt is one of 180 artists, writers, scholars, and scientists honored across 51 fields. Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or…

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Yang awarded business history book prize

Timothy Yang, associate professor in the department of history, was awarded the 2022 Hagley Prize for the best book in business history. Yang won for his book "A Medicated Empire: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Modern Japan" (Cornell University Press, 2021), which explores the history of Japan's pharmaceutical industry in the early twentieth century through a close account of Hoshi Pharmaceuticals, one of East Asia's most influential…

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New study: Microbial metabolites in the marine carbon cycle

A new study led UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in the department of marine sciences and member of the National Academy of Sciences Mary Ann Moran describes the current 'state of the art' of studying microbial metabolites, and sets out some new approaches for further investigation. The new paper was published last week in the journal Nature Microbiology: One-quarter of photosynthesis-derived carbon on Earth rapidly cycles through a set of…

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UGA team develops faster, cheaper COVID tests

A University of Georgia nanotechnology research group entered the race to develop a rapid test for COVID-19 in August 2020, running experiments on a new sensor for an American manufacturing company. The group, led by Yiping Zhao and Ralph Tripp, tested nanotechnology-based optical sensors designed for COVID-19 detection and saw the potential for their home-grown technology. In March 2022, the group filed a patent application and published…

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Lewis, Shannon among 2022 Meigs Professors

Five University of Georgia faculty members have been named Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors, the university’s highest recognition for excellence in instruction. “Meigs Professors are an elite group of faculty members at an institution that places a great value on outstanding instruction,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “I congratulate the recipients of this significant honor…

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National Academies Gulf of Mexico report

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says that assessing the success of the nation’s largest ecological restoration investment effort will require continued improvements in data collection and synthesis and coordination across the Gulf of Mexico region. The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and oil spill seriously damaged Gulf of Mexico ecosystems from Texas to Florida…

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Kudos, March 2022

We'll begin with some great news from the Southeastern Conference and our own department of geography and atmospheric sciences program: Marshall Shepherd, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia, has been named the 2022 SEC Professor of the Year Department of English doctoral student Chanara Andrews-Bickers has been selected as a 2022 National…

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Databases to help cure diseases

Jessica Kissinger is using her expertise in biology and big data to help other scientists. Today, the University of Georgia professor not only studies deadly pathogens like malaria and Cryptosporidium (a waterborne parasite), but also is a driving force behind worldwide, groundbreaking collaborations on novel databases. During her time at UGA, she has received nearly $40 million in federal and private grants and contracts. These databases can…

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Noted and Quoted, March 2022

Electric vehicles, phosphorescent waters, the war in Ukraine, and how exercise changes your brain are just a few of the stories that featured comment and expertise from Franklin College faculty over the month of March. Read all about it: We teach our son to be empathetic. Are we just setting him up for heartbreak? Keith Campbell, professor of psychology, quoted in The Washington Post Honoring a pioneer in broadcast meteorology, June…

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Two Franklin faculty members receive 2022 Russell Teaching Awards

Three UGA faculty members – two from the Franklin College – have been named recipients of the Russell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, which recognize outstanding instruction by faculty members early in their academic careers. “This year’s Russell Award recipients demonstrate how innovative, evidence-based instruction enhances student learning,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and…

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Shepherd wins SEC Faculty Achievement Award

J. Marshall Shepherd, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has been named winner of the 2022 SEC Faculty Achievement Award for the University of Georgia, the SEC announced on Wednesday. A leading international weather-climate expert, Shepherd is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and American…

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Putcha wins Best Article Award from Meridians Journal

Rumya S. Putcha, assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Institute for Women's Studies and the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, has been awarded the 2022 Paula J. Giddings Best Article Award from Meridians Journal for, The Mythical Courtesan: Womanhood and Dance in Transnational India.”  The award honors an author whose work embodies the groundbreaking…

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Unraveling the mysteries of the brain

Georgia Magazine builds out a nice roundup of Parkinson’s research at UGA with implications ranging from the journey beloved former coach Mark Richt to the legacy of the late U.S. senator Johnny Isakson. Fundamental to the research and the breakthroughs that will follow is the Brain and Behavioral Sciences Program in the department of psychology: As chair of the Behavioral and Brain Sciences Doctoral Program in the Psychology Department, […

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UGA Skidaway Institute Hawaii research resumes

After a pandemic-induced delay of nearly two years, scientists at the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography have started their 4-year research project to study how dust in the atmosphere is deposited in the ocean and how that affects chemical and biological processes there. The research team of [department of marine sciences faculty] Clifton Buck, Daniel Ohnemus and Christopher Marsay had originally planned to begin…

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Noted and Quoted, February 2022

A month with heavy traffic in current events means Franklin faculty were broadly visible in media around the world. Expert insights plus new research findings lead our news highlight for February – a sample: With $900K Falcons grant, Georgia Organics revamps food insecurity fight – associate professor of geography Jerry Shannon quoted by the AJC Quantum computing 2.0: How a UGA physicist builds on a century of knowledge to…

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LSAMP strengthens opportunities for students, faculty

In partnership with Georgia Research Alliance, more students across the state are able to pursue scientific research through the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. An integral part of our recent story of how Black science majors succeed at UGA, resources that help students and faculty propel the university forward. Support networks for current students help the attract the next class of great students and create new…

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Shepherd attends White House climate event

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy holds a first-of-its-kind roundtable with some of the nation’s leading scientists on Thursday, including UGA atmospheric scientist J.Marshall Shepherd, to discuss the urgent need to combat the climate crisis and to counter arguments for delaying climate action: The event, which has not previously been reported, will bring together a diverse group of 17 climate scientists, social…
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