Tags: faculty

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Study provides framework for 1 billion years of green plant evolution

Gene sequences for more than 1,100 plant species have been released by an international consortium of nearly 200 plant scientists, the culmination of a nine-year research project. The One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative (1KP) is a global collaboration to examine the diversification of plant species, genes and genomes across the more than 1 billion-year history of green plants dating back to the ancestors of flowering…

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Viral Maps: when content catches on

When you think about content going viral, maps don’t typically come to mind, but “The Eclipse: Smothered and Covered,” a map with the 2017 eclipse path of totality overlaid with the best Waffle House locations for viewing, did just that. The map was created by University of Georgia assistant professor of geography Jerry Shannon. After being retweeted by Waffle House, Shannon’s map quickly went viral. Almost 200,000 people viewed the tweet, and…

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Plant physiology and river flooding

Earth system scientists have identified another culprit (other than rain) that causes a river to overflow its banks: leafy plants. In a study published today in Nature Climate Change, the UCI researchers describe the emerging role of ecophysiology in riparian flooding. As an adaptation to an overabundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, trees, plants and grasses constrict their stomatal pores to regulate the amount of…

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Sharing the Knowledge: NIH Award Supports Expanded Genomics Data Resource

A team led by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Georgia provides thousands of researchers around the world with access to the Eukaryotic Pathogen Genomics Database (EuPathDB.org), a collection of resources for analyzing large-scale datasets associated with microbial pathogens. These include the parasites responsible for malaria, sleeping sickness, and toxoplasmosis; the fungi responsible for thrush, aspergillosis and…

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New research traces the spread of Neolithic practices into Europe

The spread of agriculture from the Near East and Fertile Crescent through Turkey and into Europe around 10,000 years ago was a complex and multifaceted process, one that archaeologists are trying to understand using one of the latest scientific techniques: stable isotope analysis.  A new paper published in the journal PLOS One by Suzanne Pilaar Birch, assistant professor of geography and anthropology at the University of Georgia, and…

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ARCO, Faculty Artist Series, and Faculty Concert this week at Hodgson

Hodgson School of Music ensembles and solo performers offer a strong week of concert opportunities for the campus community, beginning tonight with the ARCO Chamber Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall: The opening program is the Concerto in D minor for Two Violins and Orchestra by Bach. It will be performed by Regents Professor Levon Ambartsumian, who also is Franklin Professor of Violin and artistic director of…

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UGA Theatre presents " She Kills Monsters"

Cue the dragons, demons, and orcs as UGA Theatre presents Qui Nguyen’s “She Kills Monsters,” directed by T. Anthony Marotta, October 3–5, 8–11 at 8 p.m. and October 13 at 2:30 p.m. in the Cellar Theatre of the Fine Arts Building: the core of the story centers on high school teacher Agnes and her quest to find a meaningful connection with her recently-deceased sister Tilly. After a car accident claims the of lives of her family,…

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Gable Distinguished Chair brings focus on Colonial American history to UGA

The University of Georgia welcomes renowned historian and anthropologist James F. Brooks as the inaugural holder of the Carl and Sally Gable Distinguished Chair in Southern Colonial American History. An innovative scholar and teacher, Brooks is author of the prize-winning book Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship and Community in the Southwestern Borderlands, which garnered seven major prizes including the Bancroft, Parkman and…

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Noted and Quoted, September 2019

A few of the top stories featuring the scholarship and expertise of Franklin College faculty members during September: Tiny Albino lizards are the first gene-edited, mutant reptiles, research by associate professor of genetics Doug Menke reported in Newsweek, Courthouse News Service, News Atlas, Science Codex, Earth.com, EcoWatch, Sci-News, The Scientist Magazine   Evacuating for a hurricane…

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Research finds that insulin drug may be used to treat brain tumors

Fascinating new work from colleagues in the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center. A research team, including faculty from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the College of Engineering and associate professor of physics Qun Zhao: has found that a compound molecule used for drug delivery of insulin could be used to treat glioblastoma, an aggressive, usually fatal form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma, also known as…

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GlyGen will integrate glycoscience data to combat pathogens

Glycans, or complex sugars, cover the surfaces of our cells and play a key role in biological processes ranging from interacting with other cells to recognizing and fighting pathogens. A new informatics portal is helping to illuminate the world of glycoscience: UGA partnered with George Washington University to create GlyGen (glygen.org), a glycoscience informatics portal funded by a $10 million grant from the National…

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Symphony Orchestra kicks-off new season

The University of Georgia’s Symphony Orchestra, the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s premiere orchestra ensemble, will begin the new season with an exciting performance on the newly renovated Hodgson Hall stage. Students will take their chairs to perform challenging repertoire on September 5th in the opening concert of the 2019-2020 Thursday Scholarship Series Season. The concert will open with what has been recorded as the first “concert waltz”…

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Focus on the Faculty: Emily Sahakian

Associate professor of theatre and French Emily Sahakian integrates her work on campus with community partnerships that include a mentorship program at local high schools, an after-school theatre program at a middle school, and workshops at local nonprofit organizations: As part of the Experience UGA program, I worked with high school teacher Ashley Goodrich and Claire Coenen of the Office of Service-Learning to concoct an…

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Noted and Quoted, August 2019

Franklin faculty continue to lead by sharing their expertise on many international issues of the day. A recent sampling: Greenland’s in the middle of a record melting event - Distinguished Research Professor and Franklin College associate dean Thomas Mote quoted in a widely circulated article, Science Alert Academics, sports or both? A personal reflection from an atmospheric scientist - Georgia Athletic Association…

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Kudos, Summer 2019

Franklin College faculty and students continue to shine with distinguished accomplishments, honors, awards, prizes and fellowships. Congratulations and kudos to: Military historian and professor John H. Morrow is the 13th recipient of the Pritzker Military Museum and Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing  Professor of geography John Knox will receive the Edward N. Lorenz Teaching…

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Shepherd receives AGU Climate Communications Prize

The American Geophysical Union has awarded its 2019 Climate Communications Prize to Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geography at the University of Georgia. The award for recognition of the communications of climate science is among the class of 2019 Union honorees announced August 22. An international nonprofit scientific association with 60,000 members in 137…

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Lemons receives Presidential Early Career Award

UGA associate professor Paula Lemons is among the 2019 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers in the early stages of their research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology: Established in 1996, the PECASE acknowledges the contributions scientists and…

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Knox elected AMS Fellow, receives Lorenz Award from American Meteorological Society

University of Georgia professor John Knox will receive the Edward N. Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the organization’s highest teaching award named for the renowned meteorologist who founded modern chaos theory. Knox, who was also selected as a Fellow of the society, will receive the Lorenz Award at the 100th Annual AMS meeting in Boston in January.  Knox is Sandy Beaver Teaching Professor…

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Welcome, Class of 2023

It's the first day at UGA for many, including 5,500 incoming freshman in the Class of 2023. Welcome to all and good luck on a day that can be exhilarating, intimidating and yet joyous all the same. The journey metaphor is appropriate, as students begin a profound and lasting experience, determined as much by how as where the journey takes them. In that spirit, we offer encouragement for embracing healthy habits toward…

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Remembering Olin G. Parker

Longtime University of Georgia music educator Olin Parker passed away on Monday August 5, 2019. Parker, a veteran of WWII and the Korean War, served as professor emeritus and a former associate director of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. He began teaching at UGA in 1964 and remained active in the school and in the field well into his 90s.  Throughout his tenure, Parker taught music education methods courses for music education and…

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Interdisciplinary Seed Grants will support UGA research

After a successful first round of grants, seven new faculty teams - and six that include faculty from the Franklin College - have been awarded funds through a second round of Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grants: When the Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grants were first awarded in 2017, 12 faculty teams received funds totaling some $1.37 million. The work enabled by those seed grants supported subsequent applications…

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UGA professor recognized for coastal stewardship

Merryl Alber, professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of marine sciences, will receive the 2019 Margaret A. Davidson Award for Stewardship from the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding and stewardship of estuarine and coastal ecosystems worldwide.  The Davidson Award recognizes an individual who demonstrates extraordinary leadership,…

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Underwater gliders improve hurricane forecasts

Assistant professor of marine sciences Catherine Edwards, with colleagues at the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and the University of South Florida has developed and deployed autonomous underwater gliders to improve the accuracy of hurricane forecast models: The 2018 hurricane season provided Edwards and her colleagues a fortuitous opportunity to demonstrate the value of glider data. Edwards deployed two gliders in…

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UGA hosts Radiocarbon and Archaeology 9th International Symposium

More than 100 researchers gathered in Athens in May when the University of Georgia hosted the Radiocarbon and Archaeology 9th International Symposium. The symposium, held at the Classic Center, showcased current archaeological research that employs radiocarbon dating, as well as recent developments in the radiocarbon technique. Along with a full range of academic sessions and lectures, the symposium also included several social events and field…

cubist painting collage with people and coffee cups
Poems, Philosophy & Coffee

New UGA professor and department head of philosophy Aaron Meskin arrived on campus this summer from Leeds University. Meskin co-authored a new book, OPPOSITE: POEMS, PHILOSOPHY & COFFEE, an experiment in philosophy and poetry he explained in a recent article: The British poet, Helen Mort, and I recently explored a novel way in which poetry and philosophy might be in dialogue. We put together a book, Opposite: Poems, Philosophy…
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