Tags: geography

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Alumnus named UTK Chancellor’s Professor

Derek Alderman, Franklin College alumnus and Board of Advisors member, earned his MA (`93) and PhD (`98) in Geography and was recently named Chancellor’s Professor at the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville. This distinction honors the highest standards of academic excellence at UT and is awarded based on outstanding scholarly achievement and contributions to their fields. Alderman, a professor of human geography in the Department of…

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Sensing a new understanding of the world

Since 1985, the UGA Center for Geospatial Research has been dedicated to advancing remote sensing, mapping, and geospatial research. Along with the technological changes over that nearly 40 year history, the center's technical capacities have grown to reflect the advanced capabilities of today in environmental remote sensing and GeoAI, photogrammetry, small satellite development, and graduate and undergraduate training. In service of promoting…

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New North Georgia weather radar fills coverage gap

A new weather radar system – a collaboration among three Georgia institutions of higher education - comes online at a critical time in hurricane season to protect people and property across the metro region and beyond: Installed recently at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC), an X-band weather radar purchased two years ago by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia (UGA) is now providing data for a section of north Georgia…

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UGA's Knox receives USG Hall of Fame Faculty Award

UGA faculty member John Knox was among three USG faculty honored with the Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award at the University System of Georgia (USG) 20th annual Regents’ Scholarship Gala on September 12. The black-tie gala, hosted at Town Stage at Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, GA, honored faculty, alumni and friends while raising $1.85 million from generous sponsors to support and provide need-based scholarships for…

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Mitigating urban heat islands in Augusta

UGA atmospheric sciences alumnus and the Georgia Climate Project have teamed with stakeholders to find solutions to mitigate urban heat islands in Georgia's Garden City: “I was actually really surprised at the urban heat island effect that we found in Augusta,” said Max Appelbaum, UGA masters alum and Wyoming doctoral student. Appelbaum wrote his masters thesis on the urban heat island effect in Augusta while attending the University of Georgia…

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Kudos, Summer 2024

The awards, scholarships, and achievements by Franklin College students, alumni, faculty, and staff don't stop for summer. Congratulations to the members of our community whose individual honors bring great distinction to the college and the University of Georgia. A glimpse of the excellence that shined through the summer months: Jordyn Faucette, a senior philosophy, English, and political science major, was one of 19 students across the nation…

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UGA students awarded AMS scholarships

Fourth-year students in the Franklin College department of geography and atmospheric sciences program Shania Green and Jada Lamar have been selected to receive 2024 American Meteorological Society Senior Named Scholarships. The national scholarships range from $1,000 to $26,000 and help further the education of outstanding graduate and undergraduate students pursuing a career in the atmospheric and related oceanic or hydrologic sciences.…

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UGA academic advisor wins national award

Ryan Smith, academic advisor for Geography and Art in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has been selected as a recipient of the NACADA Outstanding New Advisor Award. Smith received the UGA Outstanding New Advisor Award in spring 2024, which made him UGA’s nominee for the global NACADA award. His award will be presented in a ceremony at the NACADA Annual Conference this October. Established in 1983, the NACADA Global Awards…

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Alumni feature: Steve Fleming

After completing both his Master’s Degree (’95) and PhD (’04) in geography(focusing on geospatial techniques) in the department of geography, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences alumnus and retired U.S Army colonel, Steve Fleming did not have initial intentions to pursue a career in higher education. However, his experiences in the military, combined with the knowledge acquired from his degrees, led him to a career path focused on educating…

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Kudos, April 2024

From competitions and professional society inductions to the most prestigious fellowships and scholarships, our colleagues – and students – continued to shine brightly, lighting up Honors season at UGA and beyond. A roundup of just a few of the many awards and accolades: Bob Schmitz, UGA Foundation Professorship in Plant Sciences and Lars G. Ljungdahl Distinguished Investigator in the department of genetics, was honored with the 2024 Charles…

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Shepherd to receive AAG Presidential Achievement Award

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) announced University of Georgia faculty member Marshall Shepherd as one of two 2024 Presidential Achievement Award winners. The AAG Presidential Achievement Award, established by the AAG Council to recognize individuals who have made long-standing and distinguished contributions to the discipline of geography, honors up to two recipients per year. Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished…

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Small Satellite Lab puts UGA technology in space

Georgia Magazine highlights the next launch of MOCI: Multi-view On-board Computational Imager, the second satellite planned for orbit from the university’s Small Satellite Research Laboratory. MOCI (pronounced mo-chee) will not only capture images but check and process those images, extracting data and deleting images that aren’t needed: The satellite also will use feature detection and matching software to process them and send data back to the…

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Franklin College to enhance 2023 Presidential Seed Grants

The newest round of 10 Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program awards chosen from 70 proposals reflect a commitment of $1 million from UGA President Jere W. Morehead. In a follow-up to the success of UGA research teams to pursue work initiated through the seed grant program, the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences announced additional support for the Presidential Seed Grant projects. Franklin College Dean Anna Stenport announced…

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Campus-wide research effort to deploy GeoAI

Faculty from the department of geography, School of Computing, and the College of Engineering are collaborating on a group of DoD-funded projects focused on optimizing geospatial artificial intelligence. The capability to deploy GeoAI for real-time usage will enable first-responders to react rapidly to changes in terrain around the world resulting from climate change and natural disasters. The campus-wide research effort, which includes faculty…

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Noted and Quoted, February 2024

From lost aviators of World War II to category-6 hurricanes and the vanishing Southern accent, scholarship and expetise of Franklin faculty was courted, quoted, featured and relied upon widely in media across the world.  A few examples, plus some well-publicized profiles and awards, from the month of February: Jordan drone strike has many waiting and wondering on government response – Kevin Jones, associate professor of history, quoted and…

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Geographers track environmental changes in the Andes

Geography faculty members have written and published extensively on the mountain ecology of the Ecuadorian Andes. Our colleagues in the Office of Research share a slideshow from their work investigating changes in freshwater availability and agricultural sustainability due to climate change, with important cultural and economic implications for the region: In September 2023, researchers from the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and…

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Divisional Spotlight: Social & Behavioral Sciences

In his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas devised five arguments for the existence of God, known as the Five Ways, that subsequently proved highly influential. The Franklin College is comprised of five divisions that are also highly influential in the education of all students at the University of Georgia. We continue to welcome 2024 by highlighting the divisional nature of our organizational structure and the academic units contained in each…

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New study describes relationship between weather, chronic pain

The perception of weather-related increases in chronic pain leads many people to plan their activities around forecasts and influences the desire for pain-based weather forecasts, according to a new research study from UGA geography. In a survey, about 70% of respondents said they would alter their behavior based on weather-based pain forecasts: “We’re finding more consistent relationships between weather patterns and pain, so it seems more…

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Franklin student Mariah Cady named Rhodes Scholar

UGA Russian and International Affairs major Mariah Cady, with minors in geography and German, has been named a 2024 Rhodes Scholar. The oldest and most celebrated international fellowship award in the world, the Rhodes Scholarship allows winners to pursue courses of study as graduate students at the University of Oxford. Cady's Franklin connections run deep and also include the Institute for Native American Studies and the department of…

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Noted and Quoted, September 2023

From storms to smart phones to... what happened to the Southern accent? Research from Franklin College faculty and graduate students was widely reported during September. A sample of the stories and media pick from across the globe: Scientists are asked if humans have broken the Earth’s climate – Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor od Geography, quoted by CleanTechnica, The Extinction Chronicles  Does…

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Shepherd wins Environmental Achievement Award

University of Georgia professor J. Marshall Shepherd was recently named the recipient of the prestigious 2023 Environmental Achievement Award. This accolade is presented annually by the Environmental Law Institute to individuals or organizations that have made notable contributions to environmental protection, conservation and sustainability. “Dr. Shepherd’s outstanding career and commitment to understanding and communicating about climate…

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UGA doctoral student selected as NASA Future Investigator

Chintan Maniyar, a Ph.D. student in the department of geography, received a NASA early career fellowship, the NASA Earth Science Division announced in August. Known as the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINNEST), the $150,000 fellowship, the program accepts proposals for graduate student-designed research projects that contribute to Science Mission Directorate’s science, technology, and exploration goals.…

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Noted and Quoted, summer 2023

For Franklin College faculty across campus, 2023 was a summer 'on' for writing in and commenting for media reports from around the world. Expert insights and new research findings were widely covered in a variety of broadcast, digital, and print media. A sample from our tireless colleagues: Eating carrots (and other veggies) really does improve your eyesight, study says – research study led by Jack Harth, a doctoral candidate in the College…

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Atmospheric science and geography double major awarded Hollings Scholarship

University of Georgia student Shania Green has been awarded the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Hollings Scholarship Program is designed to increase undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric sciences. The scholarship provides two years of financial support, a 10-week, full-time paid summer internship to any NOAA facility nationwide, and support to…

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UGA research links climate change to lazier jet stream, leading to weather extremes

Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper atmosphere, typically occurring around 30,000 feet in elevation, that blow from west to east. The normal westerly flow leads to week-to-week variations in the weather, modulated in the mid-latitudes by ridges and troughs in the jet stream. The influence of a high-pressure ridge, for example, produces clear, warmer weather conditions; a trough in the jet stream is typically…
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