Tags: Human Nature


Georgia Museum of Natural History gets major addition of specimens

With large scale coordination of people, machines, the United Parcel Service and the Smithsonian Institute, the Georgia Museum of Naural History received a rather significant expansion to what was already one of the largest university-based collections in the country: As officials with United Parcel Service, which coordinated the move, looked on, they unloaded literally tons of bones and animal skins. Freeman and other museum workers talked most…


student, alumni NSF Fellowships

Ten current or former UGA students have been awarded graduate research fellowships from the National Science Foundation. Six of the ten are from the Franklin College: [The fellowships will allow students] to conduct research while working on their master's and doctoral degrees. The awards provide students with up to $126,000 during a five-year period to conduct research in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Eleven…

library columns pediments
2013 Lecture on Scholarly Communication

The UGA Librairies presents a lecture by Kenneth D. Crews, director of the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University in New York City, "Copyright and the Academy: The Battle turns to the Courts," on Monday May 20 at 10 am in 271 Auditorium of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. Crews will discuss recent U.S. court decisions that shape fair use for higher education: For many years, universities and some…

Dhar and Marrache in the lab
Chemistry researchers develop synthetic version of the 'good cholesterol'

 In thier quest to develop nanosensors for early detection of plaque build-up in the arteries, researchers from the department of chemistry have hit upon an even bigger advancement: Early detection of cellular components in the plaque that rupture and block arteries have long been held as potentially effective detection for heart diseases and their link to atherosclerosis. A new study by University of Georgia researchers in the Franklin…


The Bard as businessman

At an event earlier this week, a colleague mentioned Shakespeare's recent birthday and offered a few appropriate lines. Exhilarated by the latter, I've always been a little skeptical of references like the former - to the actual man - as I've written about here previously. Now comes this article in the UK Telegraph Independent about Shakespeare as a wiley businessman and speculator who made a fortune off of grain: Hoarder, moneylender, tax…


Study in a second discipline

Careers in academia are, in some ways, like those of any other profession: once you have secured a position, you set about to address professional obligations, establish personal goals and pursue opportunities for advancement. Most of all of these would occur within the framework of the position for which you were intially hired. An important difference in the professoriat, and one emphasized by a program at UGA, is the opportunity to study…


Stone awarded People's Choice Award

Graduate students often participate in conferences, in formal presentations and conversations about their work with other participants during poster sessions and other events. Most frequently, academic conferences are organized by discipline but the UGA Graduate Student Association tried something different in April with their Interdisciplinary Research Conference and it seems to have been an overwhelming success. Among the unusual outcomes was…

kids with computers
Digital capital in the classroom

Some great new research published out of the department of sociology, concerning the signals teachers get from students and how teacher perceptions shape student performance: Elementary school students bring varied skills and experience to the classroom, commonly referred to as cultural capital. And when teachers notice and value these skills, students do better in school. A new University of Georgia study, published in the April issue of the…


Online Course for Summer 2013

The Franklin College and UGA are venturing into online offerings like never before. For summer 2013,  a great selection of courses is available to help students stay on track for graduation even if they are studying abroad, involved in an internship and/or working a summer job. Have a look. Sign up. Stay on track.


Origin of Mankind


Underwater Archeology in Prehistoric Scotland

A crannog is a kind of artificial island, usually found on lakes, rivers and estuaries in Scotland and Ireland, that were used as dwellings over five millenia from the European Neolithic Period. On Wednesday April 24, The Archeological Institute of America, along with the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the classics department and the department of archeology present a lecture on this and other prehistoric mysteries of Scotland. The lecture, at 5:30…


Stickney, 2013 Distinguished Research Professor

One thing we missed in the rundown of the Faculty Awards banquet is the announcement of the 2013 Distinguished Research Professors. Among the three awardees is one of our favorite researchers and teachers from the department of chemistry, John Stickney. Stickney has received worldwide recognition for his contributions to the field of electrochemistry. He singlehandedly invented a method of producing extraordinarily thin semiconductors created…


Amazing student: Paige Pulaski

The 'Amazing student' feature on the UGA homepage is a window onto some of the most accomplished students you will ever hear about. Featured this week is actress and student judge for the Peabody Awards, Paige Pulaski: All of the time that I’ve spent in the theatre department has led me to form intimate relationships with the performance, academic, design, administrative and custodial staff and faculty. There’s something about teaching a form of…


Brazilian Student Association Symposium

Did you know that that first time the seat of an empire was transferred to a colony happened in 1808? It was from Portugal to Rio de Janeiro, under the duress of the Napoloenic wars in Europe. And when Brazil gained its independence in 1822, the first country to recognize it was the very young United States of America and the two countries have been closely linked ever since. This and more I learned at the inaugural Brazilian Student Association…

logo with vitruvian man
Berry and Kretzschmar receive ACLS Fellowships


Starai awarded $1.5m to study Legionnaires' disease

Originally named from an outbreak at an American Legion convention in 1976, Legionellosis or Legionaires' disease is a severe type of pneumonia that affects only a small percentage of the population but can be fatal. UGA researcher Vincent Starai was recently awarded $1,503,565 by the National Institutes of Health to investigate how the bacterium that causes Legionellosis overcome the body’s defenses. Starai is an assistant professor who…


Discovery may create path to fuel from CO2


Lavish Elegance

Undergraduate research is one of those great ideas in academia that UGA has utilized to create something truly special. The Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunites was launched way back in the olden days of 1999 and in less than 15 years has solidified a process by which our undergraduates can pursue research projects and experience in tandem with their degree programs. This year's CURO symposium is in April 1, and the great Fran Teague…


How closely meshed

Very nice feature (and cover photo) of professor emeritus of English at UGA and very dear friend of the blog Coleman Barks in our local alt. weekly, Flagpole.  The article focuses on one of his recent collections of poetry, Hummingbird Sleep. But few contemporary poets have had the impact of Barks' work on the world. He has made the words of love and wisdom from the 13th Sufi mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi accesible to millions of English…

three students seated
Students chosen as mid-term Foundation Fellows

Three Franklin College students have been selected as mid-term recipients of the university's premier undergraduate scholarship:  The Foundation Fellowship offers unique academic, civic engagement and travel opportunities, including rigorous research projects and internship experiences. The 2013 mid-term Foundation Fellows are: 
• Maria Cox of Peachtree City, Ga., who is pursuing bachelor's degrees in mass media arts and English;
 • Allison…


Imaging axonal fibers

Something we almost missed: a terrific interdisciplinary study mapping the cerebral cortex in mammalian brains that sheds new light on its development and organization, was published in the December 2012 issue of Cerebral Cortex. This research brought together UGA faculty from the departments of computer science, cellular biology, psychology and physics and astronomy in the Franklin College; the Faculty of Engineering, the Bioimaging Research…

Knox and Brustad conducting research using computers
Researchers use Facebook to analyze tornado debris

Social media has enabled the tracking and analysis of tornado debris by researchers in the department of geography: After tornadoes touched down in the Southeast on April 27, 2011, many people in the storm's path did the most logical thing they could-they posted images of the aftermath on Facebook. The University of Georgia's John Knox and his student researchers went one step further. They used the social media site to create and analyze a…


In the News, March

Franklin faculty continue to be quoted widely in the news media. A sampling from March 2013: Research on potential triggers for eating disorders by associate professor Ping Shen featured widely in media including Yahoo! News, Medical News Today, Health Canal and others Research led by assistant professor of chemistry Tina Salguero into a pigment known as Egyptian blue that may have modern applications in telecommunications or security ink…


Microbiology researchers publish discovery on Earth's oldest life forms

This is a big discovery: University of Georgia researchers discovered important genetic clues about the history of microorganisms called archaea and the origins of life itself in the first ever study of its kind. Results of their study shed light on one of Earth's oldest life forms. "Archaea are an ancient form of microorganisms, so everything we can learn about them could help us to answer questions about the origin of life," said William…


Capuchin monkey tool use provides clues

The breadth of research in psychology is not limited to humans but reaches into questions about how all creatures learn about the world: A new study from University of Georgia behavioral scientists reports that bearded capuchin monkeys, Sapajus libidinosus, are skilled at solving problems associated with using tools. The monkeys, like humans, use their bodies to learn about the world, according to a new paper published in the journal PLOS ONE on…
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