Tags: Human Nature

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Researchers model cues guiding cell behavior

A diverse set of physical and chemical cues act upon individual cells to ensure coordinated multicellular behavior. Using the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, a team led by University of Georgia and Rice University researchers has devised a data-driven model of the mechanisms that guide elaborate self-organization at the cellular level. The research, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a blueprint for…

field of sunflowers
First sunflower genome sequence

They follow the sun's path throughout the day - hence their name in the Romance languages - and this news about the sunflower genome turns our attention to a new paper in Nature: [UGA] researchers are part of an international team that has published the first sunflower genome sequence. This new resource will assist future research programs using genetic tools to improve crop resilience and oil production. They published their findings today in…


Researchers publish breakthrough in reversing leukemia

Today in the journal Nature, a UGA research team led by Takahiro Ito published important new work that identifies a new drug target for the two most common types of myeloid leukemia, including a way to turn back the most aggressive form of the disease: By blocking a protein called BCAT1, the researchers were able to stop cancer cell growth in mice and human blood samples from leukemia patients. The BCAT1 protein activates the metabolism of a…

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Foster named UGA’s first Beinecke Scholar

Shawn Foster, an Honors student majoring in cognitive science and linguistics, was one of 20 students nationwide selected as a Beinecke Scholar: He is the first UGA student to receive the honor, which awards $34,000 to third-year students with demonstrated financial need who will pursue graduate studies in the arts, humanities or social sciences. Foster plans to earn a doctorate in linguistics. A first-generation college student, he is from the…

7 people with award plaques
Staff Awards, Staff Appreciation

The Franklin College celebrated staff and presented Staff Excellence in Service Awards at a reception in the Miller Learning Center on May 9: Franklin College Staff Excellence in Service Awards are designed to honor staff members for their excellent performance outstanding contributions to units in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Nominees are evaluated and selected based on five criteria: their excellence in fulfilling job…

man and student in lab with petri dish
Strand elected to National Academy of Sciences

University of Georgia Regents' Professor Michael R. Strand has received one of the highest honors a scientist can receive-election to the National Academy of Sciences: Strand, who holds an appointment in the entomology department of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and an affiliated appointment in the genetics department of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is UGA's eighth member of the National Academies, which…

woman in classroom with students
Kudos, April 2017

Udall and Goldwater Scholars, an HBO movie role, and a slew of teaching and research awards highlight the April kudos for Franklin students and faculty: University of Georgia juniors and Honors students Morgan Gibbs (from Peachtree City, majoring in chemistry and minoring in pharmaceutical sciences) and Mallory Harris (from Dunwoody, is pursuing mathematical sciences with a concentration in computational biology) are among 240 students across…

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Noted and Quoted, April 2017

Franklin faculty and students continue to be quoted by and to author articles across worldwide media, including all major print publications. A sample from the past few weeks: Research by Archeology graduate student Sammantha Nicole Holder had her featured in The Guardian (reconstructing the diet of Napoleon's Grand Army) The other side of Confederate Memorial Day (Spalding Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus James Cobb) – Time Four…

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Reforming Georgia's criminal justice system

Georgia legislators passed reforms to Georgia’s criminal justice system in 2017, but the complex web of fines, fees, and surcharges embedded in Georgia’s legal code continues to create significant hardship for the state’s poorest citizens. A team of researchers from nine universities including UGA conducted a comprehensive review of monetary sanctions - fines, court fees, restitution, surcharges, and corrections costs - in the criminal justice…

photo of man and woman in lab, with beakers
Rising water temperatures endanger health of coastal ecosystems

"Rising ocean temperatures are changing the way coastal ecosystems-and probably terrestrial ecosystems, too-process nitrogen," said Hollibaugh, Distinguished Research Professor of Marine Sciences in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "Much of the global nitrogen cycle takes place in the coastal zone." Hollibaugh and researcher Sylvia Schaefer found midsummer peaks in concentrations of nitrite alongside massive increases in numbers of…

field with windmill and approaching storm
Thunderstorm asthma epidemics

"Thunderstorm asthma is a very complex phenomenon and involves interactions of allergens like grass pollens, thunderstorms and susceptible groups of people," said lead author Andrew J. Grundstein, professor of geography in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "Our study may help anticipate significant thunderstorms by employing a technique that helps identify wind magnitudes commonly associated with thunderstorm asthma outbreaks." The…

woman seated on steps
Joy Peltier '17: romance language linguistics

On the homestretch to commencement, Development and Alumni Relations features on students, faculty and alumni donors highlight some soon-to-graduate students and their extraordinary UGA experiences. Joy Peltier has certainly made the most of her time at UGA: As a recipient of the university’s foremost undergraduate scholarship, the Foundation Fellowship, all of Joy’s ambitions have been realized. Now, as she pursues a joint bachelor’s…

woman with flat screen TV in background, classroom
Digital Humanities: the power of the computer

Digital humanities at UGA recently received a boost among faculty when it became eligible for the Study in a Second Discipline fellowship from the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. The impetus was largely due, McGinn said, to a push by Roxanne Eberle, an associate professor of English in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. McGinn is currently working with Eberle each week on a project analyzing the…

man and woman, photo
Graduate students recognized as outstanding debate coaches

Graduate assistants working with the Georgia Debate Union Becca Steiner and Clay Stewart were recently recognized by the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) as outstanding graduate student coaches. Steiner, a PhD Candidate in Communication Studies from San Diego, California, and Stewart, an MA Candidate in Communication Studies from the Atlanta area, received their awards at the Southeast Cross Examination Debate…

woman with building, outside, photo, day
Two Franklin students named 2017 Goldwater Scholars

Congratulations to UGA juniors and Honors Program students Morgan Gibbs and Mallory Harris, who are among 240 students across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering: Gibbs and Harris are each studying in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Gibbs, from Peachtree City, is majoring in chemistry and minoring in…

scientist in laboratory
Docampo receives SEC Faculty Achievement Award

Congratulations to Distinguished Research Professor of Cellular Biology and Barbara and Sanford Orkin/Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Roberto Docampo, who has been named the University of Georgia's recipient of the 2017 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award: The award, which is administered by provosts at the 14 universities in the SEC, recognizes professors with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship who…

people collage from photos
Kudos, March 2017

It's not even Honors Week yet and the accolades for Franklin students, faculty and alumni are already rolling in. A sample of awards, fellowships and scholarly activity from the month of March: UGA Skidaway Institute research paper selected for research spotlight, authored by associate professor of Department of Marine Sciences Aron Stubbins   UGA alumna Patricia Andrews Fearon was one of 36 Americans to be named a 2017 recipient of…

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Robinson, Tarleton, honored

Two Franklin faculty members received major career honors this week, campus-wide and international awards. First, University of Georgia Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Gregory H. Robinson has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry: A nonprofit organization with a heritage that spans 175 years, the Royal Society of Chemistry is the United Kingdom's professional body for chemical scientists and the…

two students with plaque in front of statue
Georgia Debate Union places 3rd at national championship tourney

Emory, Harvard and UGA went 1-2-3 at the American Debate Association national championship tournament held recently at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Nathan Rice (sophomore from Roswell) and Johnnie Stupek (sophomore from Sandy Springs) debated teams from around the country, including victories over the University of Minnesota, Indiana University, and the University of Kentucky. Other schools competing at the tournament include…

man in lab with blue lights
Treating damaged corneas with stem cells

Researchers have developed a new way to identify and sort stem cells that may one day allow clinicians to restore vision to people with damaged corneas using the patient's own eye tissue: The cornea is a transparent layer of tissue covering the front of the eye, and its health is maintained by a group of cells called limbal stem cells. But when these cells are damaged by trauma or disease, the cornea loses its ability to self-repair. "Damage to…

woman with two students in the background, photo
Focus on the Faculty: Paula Lemons

Associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Paula Lemons conducts research that aims to improve science education across the nation while helping students at UGA develop independence, teamwork and problem solving skills: When did you come to UGA and what brought you here? In 2007, during a transition in my career, I met Peggy Brickman, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Plant Biology, at a conference. She told me…

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WIP call for proposals

The Franklin College Writing Intensive Program develops courses to provide students with writing opportunities and instruction beyond the First-year Composition experience aimed at improving the nature and quality of the undergraduate academic experience at UGA. This is accomplished in several ways but one of the most important is facuty-driven input on courses and skills most urgently needed. To that end, the WIP has an open call…

students in the lab
UGA CubeSat one step closer to space

Great news from NASA for students and faculty working diligently to design and build UGA's first satellite: The University of Georgia CubeSat project is among 34 small satellites selected by NASA to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard missions planned to launch in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The UGA project, led by a team of undergraduate students and including faculty from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, performs…

satellite photo over the Pacific Ocean
‘Atmospheric rivers’ also common in the Southeast

Some timely and informative new research from geography faculty and graduate students on aspects of the erratic weather seen recently: Much of the flood-inducing rainfall that has pummeled California over the last month flowed into the region via a river in the sky. But these so-called atmospheric rivers, which transport large quantities of water vapor poleward from the tropics, can wreak havoc in the Southeast as well. University of Georgia…

group photo outdoors
Dyer receives Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

Congratulations to associate professor of genetics Kelly Dyer, one of three UGA faculty to receive Russell Teaching Awards, the university's highest early career teaching honor: Dyer, who joined UGA's faculty in 2007, uses innovative methods to teach courses in evolution and genetics, allowing students to explore cutting-edge research both in the classroom and laboratory environments. In addition to advising graduate students, while at…
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