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Tags: Earth

The highest point in the state of Georgia, Brasstown Bald, is known to native Cherokee as Etonah and to many Georgians as among the best locations to view the changing fall colors. The term “bald” is used to describe deforested mountaintops in the southern Appalachians that have 360-degree unobstructed views. And the views can indeed be spectacular. But the high, grassland mountaintops, rather than naturally occurring, are part of a…
UGA Faculty members Melanie Reber and Eric Harvill have been named Innovation Fellows for spring 2021, a semester-long fellowship designed to help faculty align their research activities with industry needs and bring their discoveries to the marketplace: Reber, an assistant professor of chemistry in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is developing a cavity-enhanced, two-dimensional spectroscopy that uniquely combines…
What do the 3,000-year-old actions of an Egyptian pharaoh say about how we should tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century? Quite a bit, according to anthropologists at the University of Georgia who analyzed archeological evidence over thousands of years to examine how societies have approached adversity. Their work suggests that rigid, top-down approaches to complex problems have been a doomed strategy throughout human history.…
The Royal Astronomical Society has announced the winners of its medals and prizes, awarded to scientists around the world for significant achievement in the fields of astronomy and geophysics. University of Georgia Assistant Professor Cassandra Hall has received the Winton Capital Award for astronomy for 2020.  There are two Winton awards per year, one each in astronomy and geophysics and they are funded by the Winton Capital…
The Franklin College wishes all University of Georgia students, faculty, staff, friends and alumni a safe, happy and healthy 2021. Let your creative pursuits, your scholarly endeavors, and your generous spirit flourish from the very beginning this year.  See you in 2021!
The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences wishes you a very happy and healthy holiday season. Stay safe, protect your loved ones and your community, and enjoy the rest and relaxation of the holidays as we look forward to 2021.
Graduates and their families, friends and Bulldogs worldwide are invited to gather online to welcome the University of Georgia’s newest alumni on Dec. 18 as 1,874 undergraduates and 2,526 graduate students—a total of 4,400—have met requirements to graduate: This virtual ceremony brought on by the novel coronavirus will integrate traditional ceremonial components, such as the singing of the national anthem, formal remarks by President Morehead…
The UGA Teaching Academy program brings together promising instructional faculty with experienced mentors across campus to promote excellence in the classroom. The Teaching Academy launched its 10th cohort of early-career fellows program in August: In addition to workshops with campus leaders, fellows participate monthly in small group sessions, led by mentors from the Teaching Academy, throughout the academic year. The Teaching…
Prior to and throughout the pandemic and the switch to online instruction, work and life as we know it, news about Franklin College faculty and students garnered media attention near and far. In a non-scientific sampling, we look back at some of the year's most impactful stories, the sheer breadth of which define a great university in this or any year: In January, a new UGA study a described a way to attack…
An  extraordinary array of honors and accomplishments among our students, alumni and colleagues were announced over recent weeks. Congratulations to each and all – your excellence inspires us as it propels the campus community to ever-greater heights: The Curtis Institute of Music has appointed Vince Ford as senior vice president of digital strategy and innovation, executive director of the Performance Innovation Lab, and, in…
COVID-19, election news and analysis, personality traits, weather and climate round out the recent trending topics for Franklin College faculty expertise in the media. A sample of the many stories: Study links cognitive disorders with severe COVID-19 risk – research led by Kaixiong Ye, assistant professor of genetics, reported by Devdiscourse, News Break, and Postdoctoral Fellow Jingqi Zhou, Drugs.com Hot or cold, weather…
Four University of Georgia faculty members, three from the Franklin College, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed by their peers for “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” These four faculty members are among 489 new AAAS Fellows who will receive an official certificate and a gold and blue—representing…
A new project by UGA researchers will explore the largely unknown relationship between plants and soil microbes, generating new information that’s expected to be a game changer for plant science. The five-year project, funded by an $11.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, will deliver findings ranging from basic information about plants and microbes to applied knowledge that can be used by plant breeders to improve…
Just down the coast from Savannah, Sapelo Island houses the University of Georgia Marine Institute, a world-renowned center for marine ecological research. Located within the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, UGAMI is a living laboratory that offers uncommon access to coastal habitats, making it the perfect location to offer UGA’s flagship field study programs in marine sciences, the Marine Biology Spring Semester…
With new protocols in place to safeguard against COVID-19, most University of Georgia graduate students have safely returned to their work in labs and field settings. Continuing their important research has been a positive development, but the changes have required adjustments. Those adaptations have varied immensely, depending on the students’ areas of study: “We conduct lab meetings predominantly over Zoom,” she said. “We sign up to use…
A few of the stories we've been following over the course of October, written by or featuring the work of Franklin College faculty members: Some COVID-19 rule-breakers could be narcissists, experts say — here’s how to approach them – psychology professor Keith Campbell quoted by The Spokesman-Review, Longview News Journal A post-presidential debate reality check on carbon dioxide and climate – Marshall Shepherd, Georgia…
Manned missions to Mars, much less permanent human settlement, will require scientific breakthroughs in many fields including interstellar agriculture. Growing food presents one of the primary challenges to sending human crews to the Red Planet. The last decade of Martian surface exploration has expanded the understanding of the chemistry of its atmosphere and surface.providing valuable knowledge that support research for growing food…
Congratulations to our colleagues, students and alumni on important recent accomplishments over the month of October: Liftoff: UGA’s first-ever satellite heads to space –WGAU,WSB,Trenton Daily News,Albany Herald,ABH, AJC,  "Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory" by Claudio Saunt, Richard B. Russell Professor in American History, has been named as a finalist for the National Book…
Inspired by Project Drawdown, Georgia is building a movement to accelerate progress towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions. It’s called Drawdown Georgia, and it launched October 17 statewide. Over 18 months, a team of the state’s best researchers and scientists from UGA, Georgia Tech and Emory University took a deep dive into the data to determine what it’s possible to achieve within the Drawdown framework, leveraging our state’s…
Sally E. Walker, the inaugural Shellebarger Professor in Geology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, gives students field research experiences through which they propose hypotheses, collect and analyze data, and communicate their findings: What are your favorite courses and why? My favorite courses concern connections: how evolution of life on Earth affected geological and atmospheric processes and vice versa. The naturalist John Muir…
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office’s Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections (MAPP) Program, in collaboration with the National Integrated Drought Information system (NIDIS) program has announcing 11 new 3-year projects that aim to advance our capability to more integrally characterize and anticipate U.S. droughts in the context of hydroclimatic…
UGA announced 20 new Foundation Fellows and seven new Ramsey Scholars today, the highest academic scholarships and grants the university awards. While the combined lists reflect a healthy geographic variety, with Georgia's finest high school scholars well-represented, both are also predominately Franklin College majors, which is precisely as it should be at a top-tier major research university. The great diversity of…
UPDATE: Launch re-scheduled for 9:16 EST Oct. 2 – A Franklin College-student-led effort to get the University of Georgia’s first research satellite into space is ready for launch. The small satellite SPOC, short for Spectral Ocean Color, is due for takeoff at 9:38 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1. That's tonight: The satellite will be on board an Antares rocket set to launch from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia…
Elections and hurricanes led the media coverage featuring Franklin faculty expertise during September. A sample of the many recent stories in print, on the air and screen: Mathematicians open a new front on an ancient number problem – mathematics professor Paul Pollack quoted by Quanta Magazine, Wired Flooding, blackouts in the wake of Laura – Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor …
Congratulations to our many colleagues on recent accolades and achievements, inspiring our work with their excellence in teaching, research and outreach: Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt, Richard B. Russell Professor in American History, was named to the nonfiction Longlist for the 2020 National Book Award Three University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and…

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