Tags: research

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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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Sarmiento receives Fulbright Global Scholar award

Fausto O. Sarmiento, professor of mountain science and director of the Neotropical Montology Collaboratory in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ geography department, has received a Fulbright U.S. Global Scholar award to Austria, Japan and Chile. The U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced that Sarmiento will research and lecture at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research of…

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UGA’s Tejas Reddy named 2022 Udall Scholar

Tejas Reddy’s focus on coastal ecosystems has earned him a 2022 Udall Scholarship. The University of Georgia undergraduate is one of 55 students across the nation being recognized for leadership, public service and commitment to issues related to the environment. A third-year Honors student from Rome, Georgia, Reddy is majoring in ecology in the Odum School of Ecology and biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. The Udall…

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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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Pediatric transplant patients may skip adult appointments

Young adults who received organ transplants as children may not be regularly attending their doctor appointments after leaving their pediatric providers. Missing these appointments is associated with longer and more frequent hospitalizations and poorer medication adherence, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Georgia found a significant decline in attending adult health care appointments after a patient transfers to…

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Marine sciences professor receives NSF CAREER award

Holly Bik, assistant professor in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Science department of marine sciences with a joint appointment in UGA’s Institute of Bioinformatics, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) to study the biodiversity, evolution, and ecology of free-living marine nematodes and their host-associated microbiomes. The five-year, $1…

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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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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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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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Chemistry student takes unlikely path to Ph.D.

Five years ago, Brianna Garcia was getting up at 3 a.m. to report to her job as a corrections officer at a women’s county jail in California. Today she’s several thousand miles away and getting up later while writing her dissertation in chemistry. The distance between the two experiences is not as wide as one might think, according to Garcia, who will graduate with a Ph.D. in May. “I don’t think anyone who has known my past would ever…

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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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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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Get moving! (Even just a little)

New research from the University of Georgia shows that physical activity could help protect your cognitive abilities as you age. And it doesn’t have to be intense exercise to make an impact. “This finding isn’t saying, ‘If you’re older, you need to go out there and start running marathons,’” said Marissa Gogniat, lead author of the study and a recent doctoral graduate in psychology from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “This is…

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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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When pollen comes of age

New research from the University of Georgia has determined when pollen comes of age and begins expressing its own genome, a major life cycle transition in plants. Each grain of pollen is actually its own multicellular organism – with two to 40 cells, depending on the species. Pollen expresses its own genome and is genetically distinct from its parent plant. That means pollen grains from a single flower can have different traits and…

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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…

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Claire Bunn named Gates Cambridge Scholar

University of Georgia senior Claire Bunn of Marion, Arkansas, will continue her studies in lung biology this fall as one of 23 Americans selected for the 2022 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars. The scholarship fully funds postgraduate study and research in any subject at the University of Cambridge in England. Bunn is UGA’s ninth Gates Cambridge Scholar in the program’s 21-year history. The scholarship, which recognizes intellectually…

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Agricultural fungicides may be driving resistance

New research from the University of Georgia has shown, for the first time, that compounds used to fight fungal diseases in plants are causing resistance to antifungal medications used to treat people. The study focused on Aspergillus fumigatus, the fungus that causes aspergillosis, a disease that causes life-threatening infections in 300,000 people globally each year. Published in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, the study …

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Palmer earns prestigious NEH Fellowship

Jennifer Palmer, associate professor of history, has been awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for 2022. The award was announced in January and will provide course release for a full academic year. Seventy-three fellowships were awarded by the NEH this year, among 208 grants worth $24.7 million for humanities scholarship and programming across the country: Palmer will use the fellowship for…

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Studying the impact of language on identity

Shannon Rodriguez studies a dialect of English spoken by Latinos born in Georgia, a particular blend of Southern drawl, clipped Latino vowels and a more general mainstream American accent. Speakers pull features from each to emphasize different parts of their identity. In January, she presented her dissertation on the topic “Latino English in Georgia:  a sociophonetic analysis of ethnicity and identity” to the board of regents. The…

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How Black science majors succeed

University of Georgia life science and education researchers investigated the stories behind one of the most successful groups of science majors on campus: Black undergraduate students. Despite an array of additional challenges beyond their coursework, Black science majors are able to complete their science degree programs. Black students persist at a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic subgroup on campus for many of the science majors…

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Kissinger, Yager elected as AAAS Fellows

Jessica Kissinger, Distinguished Research Professor of genetics, and Patricia Yager, professor of marine sciences, are among three UGA faculty named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In a tradition stretching back to 1874, these individuals are elected annually by the AAAS Council for their extraordinary achievements leading to the advancement of science. Fellows must have been AAAS members for at…
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