Tags: research

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A place at the table

UGA researchers from across campus are deeply engaged in food systems and agricultural sustainability issues around town and around the globe. UGA Research Communications offers an updated look at the social connections that provide the foundation for a wide variety of efforts to support a healthy ecosystem. The largest remaining Saltwater Geechee community in the nation has lived in Sapelo Island’s Hog Hammock community for centuries. Today,…

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The power of positive thinking - on health

New research led by UGA psychology suggests a strong correlation between having a positive perspective about the future and enhanced health. “There are many ways that people cope with risk to survival. One way people may thrive when conditions are risky and difficult is to adopt a positive perspective about the future,” said Brian Haas, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences…

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Ten years in the Top 20

The University of Georgia has placed in the top 20 among the nation’s best public universities for the 10th consecutive year, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 rankings. UGA and Georgia Tech remain the only two Georgia institutions in the top 20, making Georgia and California the only two states with multiple universities ranked in that tier. Among private and public universities, UGA placed No. 46 in the nation: The USNWR…

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Florent Bernard, Counsellor of Research and Innovation to the European Union Delegation, to give lecture

 The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences will host a lecture by Florent Bernard, the Counsellor for Research and Innovation at the European Union Delegation to the United States in Washington, DC, on Friday, October 3 at 11 a.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall. This lecture is free and open to the public.  Bernard’s lecture, “E.U.-U.S. Collaboration Opportunities in Research and Innovation with…

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Risk of developing psychiatric conditions could be shaped by environment

A new University of Georgia research study links a lack of resources in a given area to a higher risk of certain psychiatric conditions for its residents. Living in low-income, high crime areas correlates with a 79% higher rate of psychotic disorders. Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia can be debilitating, interfering with a person’s mental, physical and social health. The new study suggests a person’s risk for developing these conditions…

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NSF project to peer into deep space, observe rapid planet formation

University of Georgia faculty member Cassandra Hall is a co-principal investigator on a new project supported by $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to learn more about planetary formation by studying a star system over 500 light-years away. The grant funds a three-year collaborative research project between principal investigator New Mexico State University Astronomy Associate Professor Wladimir Lyra, co-principal investigator…

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International expedition tracks East Greenland Coastal Current

Nick Foukal, assistant professor in the UGA Department of Marine Sciences is co-leader of an international research project focused on oceanography and current measurements in the East Greenland Coastal Current. The team’s observations aboard the Research Vessel Thorunn Thordardottir from August 29 through September 12 aim to help determine how the East Greenland Coastal Current may influence the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning…

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Noted and Quoted, summer 2025

Throughout the summer quiet and into the busy fall, Franklin faculty expertise and research findings continues to resonate broadly across the global media. A few of the many recent stores we've been following: How it’s not about the place — it’s about the people – research lead by Daisi Brand, graduate student in the department of psychology, reported by Health Medicine Network   New research illustrates how live events foster social…

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UGA English professor receives British Arts and Humanities award

University of Georgia faculty member Susan Rosenbaum, along with Jonathan Ellis, Reader in American Literature at the University of Sheffield, received a $351,000 grant from Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Rosenbaum, associate professor in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences…

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Implanted medical devices can also incubate deadly fungal infections

Medical devices that extend lives and improve quality of life for tens of millions of Americans are generally understood to be wonders of modern science. Prosthetic joints and pacemakers are all but a common occurrence in the lives of many, even as they meaningfully alter the health of the patient. But implanting any foreign object into the body also carries risk of introducing deadly fungal infections. New research from University of Georgia…

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Conversation wins over setting in new dating study

'Location, location, location' turns out not to be so decisive when it comes to dating, according to new research from the department of psychology. What resonates more, researchers found out through a clever experiment, is of course the human connection: The researchers randomly paired up 200 strangers in two different first date environments. One room was adorned with comfortable furniture, decorations and nice lighting. The other space was…

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UGA microbiology postdoc receives Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellowship

John Ciemniecki, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Georgia, has been awarded a fellowship from the Life Sciences Research Foundation.  The Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF) is a non-profit organization that supports early-career investigators by connecting them with philanthropic donors. Less than 5% of applicants receive a fellowship, which will support Ciemniecki’s salary and research expenses for three years…

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Art professor works to help 'Restore the Night Sky'

Oxford American features UGA art faculty member Marni Shindelman, whose work investigates the impacts of ambient LED lighting on our views of the night sky – and our perceptions of the light sources. Associate Professor in the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia where she heads the photography area, Shindelman brings a keen eye to the effects of a networked world, connecting the invisible to actual sites, anchoring the…

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Ancient bald cypress trees archive climate secrets, future clues

A new research study led by UGA anthropology alumna Katherine Napora (Ph.D. '21) reveals how dramatic shifts in climate can have long-lasting effects on even the toughest, most iconic trees – and offers a glimpse into the powerful forces that shape our natural world. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University and the UGA Museum of Natural History studied bald cypress trees from a buried subfossil deposit at the mouth of the Altamaha River near…

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Childhood adversity leads to health problems later in life

UGA and the Franklin College welcome back alumna Sierra Carter (PhD, '16, clinical psychology), who will join the Department of Psychology faculty and become the next associate director of Center for Family Research in August. Carter is co-author of a new study that suggests growing up with negative events and in dangerous communities in early adolescence can alter an entire lifetime, particularly for Black men and women. “Things that happen to…

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Higher CO2 levels leading plants to contribute to warmer temperatures

One of the elevated dangers of global climate change is discoveries outside the boundaries of expected changes – whether temperature, sea level and other predicted results of higher atmospheric carbon concentrations. UGA scientists now have added plants to net contributors to rising global temperatures. The scientists detail the findings in a study published in the Nature journal Climate and Atmospheric Science documenting the impact of…

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The South Atlantic Bight: a living laboratory

The swath of US coastline that extends from Cape Hatteras, NC to Cape Canaveral, FLA, known as the South Atlantic Bight, is a broad but relatively shallow section of the Atlantic that reaches to the gulf stream. Situated near its coastal midpoint, the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography houses a research hub into the bight that allows marine scientists and oceanographers near-constant access to this dynamic biological…

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UGA partners with Rowen on climate resilience

The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the College of Engineering in partnership with the Rowen Foundation has launched a two-year Hydrometeorology and Land Cover Change Observational Study (HALOS) that will begin this summer.  HALOS will generate critical baseline data to monitor how large-scale development impacts local weather, geography and watershed…

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UGA's Perdisci receives Amazon Research Award

Roberto Perdisci, Patty and D.R. Grimes Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Director of the UGA Institute of Cybersecurity and Privacy, was selected as a recipient of an Amazon Research Award.   Amazon Research Awards (ARA) provide unrestricted funds and AWS Promotional Credits to academic researchers investigating various research topics in multiple disciplines. This cycle, ARA announced 73 award recipients who represent 46…

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Genetics professor puts UGA on the corn map

A career of investigation and groundbreaking discovery in maize genetics has helped Kelly Dawe, Distinguished Research Professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, reshape how researchers understand—and improve—a vital crop. Through the rich genetic diversity of corn, Dawe has unlocked pathways to long-sought breakthroughs with cross-scale impacts in genetics, cell biology and genome evolution. Our colleagues in Research…

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Plates, spinning, fixed crater origins on Vesta

Vesta, one of the largest bodies in the asteroid belt, has long occupied human imagination – from Roman mythology to 20th century science fiction.  The protoplanet's Divalia Fossae, massive surface troughs comparable in size to the Grand Canyon, encircle two-thirds of Vesta's equator. Rather than erosion, these deep basins were the result of large meteorite impacts that changed the asteroid’s gravitational field which, in turn, affected…

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New study documents declining health of coastal marshes

Scientists from Colorado State University, Georgia Southern, the University of Georgia and the University of Texas at Austin developed a model to provide an early warning and opportunity to protect an ecosystem that serves as the first line of defense against coastal flooding. By using satellite observations, the model identified vulnerable marshes along Georgia’s coast by locating declining root production – a harbinger of marsh failure. The…

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UGA's Song receives Webb Telescope support to observe low-mass stars

Inseok Song, associate professor of astronomy in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of physics and astronomy, has received a grant from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Song's JWST program, "JWST Mid-IR Observations of Warm Debris Disks around Nearby M-dwarfs", will observe 19 M-type stars, the lowest mass stars that are the most common in the Universe.  "M-dwarf stars are the most common type…

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Prashant Doshi appointed Institute for Artificial Intelligence director

A distinguished scholar and prominent researcher with more than two decades of experience in the field of artificial intelligence, Prashant Doshi has been appointed the inaugural executive director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IAI) at the University of Georgia following a national search: The Institute for Artificial Intelligence is an interdepartmental research and instructional unit jointly supported by the Office of the…

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UGA's Kurup on the PATH to stop malaria

UGA faculty member But Samarchith “Sam” Kurup is determined to strengthen  immune defenses against malaria. Now, thanks to a prestigious Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, his lab is one step closer. Burroughs Wellcome recently announced its 2025 cohort of eight innovative scientists. Kurup is the first University of Georgia faculty member to receive this highly competitive…
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