News from the Chronicles - April 2025

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Research improves AI for smartphones

As Machine Learning tools become increasingly commonplace, their ubiquity is accompanied by a growing need to use the tools on mobile devices. From the application side, the endless possibilities go well beyond common speech or image recognition. And the growing computational capacity of smartphones creates necessary room for improved hand-held AI. Researchers at the University of Georgia have recently developed an innovative software framework…

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Ron Simons, 1946-2025

Ron Simons, Ph.D., Regents' Professor in the department of sociology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at UGA passed away on Monday, March 31, 2025. Simons had a long and fruitful collaboration with the Center for Family Research (CFR) over the years, and is leaving behind a profound legacy through his contributions to the field and support of other scholars’ work. CFR’s director, Steven Beach, Ph.D., says, Simons “was a…

Facilitating Learning and Optimal Wellness Laboratory
Franklin College Multidisciplinary Seed Projects Program funds six research projects

For the second consecutive year, the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Multidisciplinary Seed Grant Program has funded two new tracks of collaborative research projects: Rapid Interdisciplinary Proposals (RIP) and Innovation in Interdisciplinary Instruction (I-Cubed). The seed grant program responds to the need for new paradigms that shape future research, life-long learning, public discourse, service, and dynamic entrepreneurship. $50,…

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UGA's Roberts Thompson receives Society for American Archeology Award

University of Georgia faculty member Amanda Roberts Thompson has been selected to receive the 2025 Award for Excellence in Curation and Collections Management from the Society of American Archeology. The 2025 SAA awards will be presented April 25 at the SAA 90th Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. This Award for Excellence in Curation and Collections Management is given annually to recognize excellence in curation and collections…

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Crawfords honored with UGA's Family of the Year Award

The University of Georgia celebrated the 2025 Alumni Awards honorees during a luncheon on April 4 in Athens. The awards are a long-standing tradition intended to celebrate individuals and organizations that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to UGA. Among the six honorees, Cathie and John Crawford III were recognized with the 2025 Family of the Year Award: John Crawford III began his family’s legacy at UGA when he graduated in 1962 …

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Franklin students present their research at CURO Symposium

As visitors descended the escalator of the Classic Center and walked through the doors of the Grand Hall, they encountered hundreds of hardworking students eager to present their research. An atmosphere of education and engagement filled the air.  On April 7 and 8, undergraduate students from UGA came together to present at the annual Center for Undergraduate Research (CURO) Symposium with a record-breaking number of 723 presentations…

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Tom Schulman, "Dead Poets Society" screenwriter, visits UGA Department of Religion

Greeted by a round of applause from a class full of students, "Dead Poets Society" screenwriter and Academy Award winner Tom Schulman visited UGA on April 10. Schulman was interviewed by religion professor and department head Derrick Lemons about his process writing the film and his experiences in the movie industry as a part of Lemons’ Anthropology of American Religion course. Students watched the film to prepare for Schulman’s visit, which…

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Franklin's Sloka Sudhin awarded Goldwater Scholarship

Sloka Sudhin is one of three University of Georgia students among the 441 undergraduates from across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars this spring. They have earned the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of mathematics, engineering and natural sciences. Sudhin, a Foundation Fellow and Stamps Scholar from Marietta, Georgia, is majoring in data science and applied mathematics in the Franklin College of…

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Franklin College Innovation 2025 – the next quarter-century

Part 1 of 3 - Academic Innovation  Franklin College has introduced a three-part Innovation Initiative guiding its efforts and focus into the next era of American higher education. The initiative consists of three pillars designed to complement each other and work together: 1) Academic Innovation, 2) Student Success, and 3) Research Partnerships and Public Engagement. In the first of a three-part series of interviews, Franklin College Dean…

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Special PNAS feature on Global Inequality includes UGA's Birch

A collection of articles in a special feature published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Economic Inequality Over the Very Long Term, released findings of a large, international research team that includes University of Georgia faculty member Jennifer Birch. An expert on the archaeology of Indigenous societies in eastern North America, Birch is co-author on 4 of the eleven articles comprising the April 14 special feature…

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