Tags: research

Theologically Engaged Anthropology
Theologically-engaged anthropology aims to answer big questions

Today’s current sociopolitical changes, much like other periods of time in our history, is a landscape worthy of collaboration between anthropologists and theologists, he said. "Traditionally, anthropologists have focused on the continuity of religious cultural change. Humans value order and predictability, and often behavior that is not in keeping with what is culturally expected is branded as deviant and punished,” said Lemons. “However, this…

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Georgia Climate Research Roadmap identifies Top 40 Climate Questions

From higher storm surge and more frequent flooding along the coast, to erratic weather patterns that affect the many industries connected to agriculture and forestry, the state of Georgia and its citizens face a growing array of challenges related to climate change. Now, a multi-disciplinary team of experts from across the state has developed the Georgia Climate Research Roadmap, a list of 40 key questions that can help Georgia’s policymakers…

Moving Evolution Education Forward
Moving Evolution Education Forward

Recent research co-authored by department of genetics Ph.D. candidate Michelle Ziadie focuses on resources available for undergraduate evolution instructors. From the abstract of the paper: Evolution is a unifying theory in biology and is challenging for undergraduates to learn. An instructor’s ability to help students learn is influenced by pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which is topic-specific knowledge of teaching and learning…

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How corn breaks genetics laws

In a new paper published in the journal Cell, genetics professor Kelly Dawe solves a long-sought mystery: Modern genetics is based on the idea that genes are passed on to progeny in a predictable fashion, as first described by 19th-century Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel. He determined that genes exist in pairs, and each one of the two has an equal chance of being transmitted to the next generation. However, in rare exceptions, chromosomes…

photo of three men in a lab
Microbes and a changing environment

A striking new study published in the journal Cell shows details how ancient microbes that thrive in some of the world’s most extreme environments and modern-day humans have more in common than meets the eye—namely, they both respire and conserve energy using a similar molecular mechanism, one that has adapted to changing environmental conditions over billions of years: "Nature is really good at finding molecules that work and then modifying…

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Great Commitments: Roberto Perdisci

UGA's recently established Institute for Cybersecurity and Privacy uses anti-malware software developed by the institute’s network security expert, associate professor of computer science Roberto Perdisci, to detect malware downloads on its own networks - a model other institutions are begiining to follow: “Your antivirus software installed on your computer to protect against malware attacks will always be behind,” Perdisci says. Such software…

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Kudos, April 2018

Awards season celebrates many of our best and the accolades continue for Franklin College faculty and students. Among the many honors, inductions and elections: Janet Westpheling, professor of genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is president-electof the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. SIMB is a nonprofit, international association dedicated to the advancement of microbiological sciences,…

Photo one woman treating another in a lab
Undergraduates present research at CURO Symposium

Presentations on the best of UGA undergraduate research are underway at the annual CURO Symposium, held this year on April 9-10 at the Classic Center in downtown Athens: Hosted by CURO, the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, this year’s symposium is the largest to date, with more than 575 participants. These undergraduates are pursuing 103 different majors from 14 UGA schools and colleges. Collectively, they are…

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Noted and Quoted, March 2018

Great diversity of subjects, opinions, expertise and sources in this month's round-up faculty, students and alumni appearing in the media: Can narcissists actually change their ways? We asked the experts – professor of psychology  Keith Campbell quoted in Huffington Post Researchers receive $10M to create computational and informatics tools for glycoscience – project co-led by Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology …

photo of students holding Brazilian and American flags
UGA-Minas Gerais partnership receives NAFSA 2018 Spotlight Award

Building on interdisciplinary collaborations across campus made possible through the Portuguese Flagship Program, UGA is one of eight universities nationwide to be recognized for its exemplary international programs and partnerships by NAFSA, a nonprofit association dedicated to international education: The university’s network of partnerships within the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais received NAFSA’s 2018 Senator Paul Simon…

photo of two people in a lab
Battling neglected diseases

Great overview of the work by Franklin College faculty in the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, where multi-track efforts are yielding gains against some of the world's worst scourges: Founded 20 years ago by Regents Professor of Cellular Biology Rick Tarleton, CTEGD consolidates UGA’s extensive, campus-wide tropical disease knowledge and drug discovery expertise into an interdisciplinary research unit that focuses on…

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Adams receives 2018 DuPont award

Michael W.W. Adams, Distinguished Research Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is co-recipient of the 2018 DuPont Industrial Biosciences Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology from the American Society for Microbiology: He shares the award with Robert Kelly of North Carolina State University. They were recognized for their groundbreaking use and genetic manipulation of…

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New glycoscience informatics portal: GlyGen

Glycoscience is the study of the structure and function of carbohydrates — organic compounds that play critical roles in nearly every aspect of biology. UGA is a partner in a new project that will soon be able to provide a way for questions asked by those studying glycoscience to be answered by big data: The National Institutes of Health has jointly awarded a $10 million grant to UGA and George Washington University to build a glycoscience…

logo graphic with thumbprint of the state of Georgia
NEH Application-Writing Workshop at UGA

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will present a Regional Application-Writing Workshop on February 28, 2018 at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education in Athens: The workshop is supported by the University of Georgia Office of Research and is hosted by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, in partnership with Georgia…

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February Kudos

Accomplishments of note by students, faculty, staff and alumni over the past month include: 31 Franklin College alumni were recognized this year in the 2018 class of the Bulldog 100 fastest growing businesses owned or operated by UGA alumni The student-led UGA Small Satellite Research Laboratory is one of two projects chosen by the United States Air Force to build and launch satellites into space Inside the “Blue Planet II” dive into the…

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ClinEpiDB launch

An international team of researchers has launched the Clinical Epidemiology Database, an open-access online resource enabling investigators to maximize the utility and reach of their data and to make optimal use of information released by others: Population-based epidemiological studies provide new opportunities for innovation and collaboration among researchers addressing pressing global-health concerns. As with the vast quantities of…

photo of man and woman with plants
Researchers identify gene to improve plant yield, growth for biofuels

A research team led by professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Debra Mohnen has discovered that manipulation of the same gene in poplar trees and switchgrass produced plants that grow better and are more efficiently converted to biofuels: Due to the composition of plant cell walls, plant material is not efficiently broken down or deconstructed to the basic sugars that are converted to biofuels. In a paper published today…

photo of garbage on a conveyor
Leaning into the Plastics Problem

Once considered the key to all manner of convenience, practicality and profit, plastics turn out to be one of most dangerous and long-lasting pollutants to the natural environment. Georgia Magazine takes a look at how UGA faculty researchers are working to approach the problem from many angles, including the development of new materials with industry partners: Jason Locklin, an associate professor in UGA’s chemistry department, had a related…

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UGA to partner in new humanities grant for archeological study

An international research team that includes assistant professor of anthropology and geography Suzanne Pilaar Birch has been awarded Arts and Humanities Research Council UK funding for their four-year project on Radical Death and Early State Formation in the Ancient Near East.  Using new evidence from the Early Bronze Age graves of Başur Höyük, on the Upper Tigris, the project will examine how ritual killing was implicated in…

photo of jellyfish half in water
Joye featured in Planet Earth: Blue Planet II

  Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Arts and Sciences Samantha Joye is featured in the new BBC documentary series, Planet Earth: Blue Planet II: Presented by Sir David Attenborough and scored by Academy Award-winner Hans Zimmer, Planet Earth: Blue Planet II takes viewers on a revelatory and magical journey into the mesmerizing world of our oceans — by turn tempestuous and serene, exquisitely beautiful and bleakly…

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Study offers new insight into brain architecture and function

Great collaboration from computer science and engineering faculty: The researchers in UGA’s College of Engineering and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ department of computer science say their study is the first to identify specific areas they call “three hinges.” They believe these junctions of three ridges along the brain’s surface play an important role in how the brain forms as well as how it works. “The traditional way of…

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New microbiome analysis tool puts Big data to work

A new computational tool developed by UGA statistics researchers shows promise for further understanding and identifying the complicated makeup of the microbiome: Microbes, found everywhere—in our environment, on our skin and in human bodies and consisting of bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoans and viruses—form microbiomes that have both good and harmful implications for human health. With the creation of this new big data tool, researchers…

group photo in ballroom
76th Peabody Awards

Excellence in television, radio and digital media was recognized at the 76th Annual Peabody Awards ceremony on May 20 in New York, hosted by Rashida Jones. Attendant events provide a great opportunity for Franklin College faculty and dean's staff to celebrate UGA with friends and alumni of the college. More images here. The ceremony was broadcast on Friday, June 2 and can be seen here. Image courtesy of Franklin College Office of…

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WUGA TV

The sale of WUGA-TV to Marquee Broadcasting is scheduled to be completed on July 1, and we would be remiss not to note the end of this mini-epoch in university broadcasting. Since 2012, WUGA-TV existed as a local PBS affiliate in Athens, owned by UGA and whatever may have been its initial puropse or the original motivations behind the endeavor, the Franklin College became a significant contributor to the station. It broadcast, in every sense of…

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Faculty in the Media, March 2015

It's not even the end of the month and Franklin faculty (plus one venerable old building) have been in heavy rotation across a variety of media, on many of the most important issues of the day. A sample of the great work from our experts: The hidden history behind the 10 oldest college buildings in America. Hometalk.com includes UGA’s Old College in its list of “ten of the oldest hallowed hall still in use today.” Criminal records keeping men…
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