News from the Chronicles - July 2025

photo of man at desk with corn kernels
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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Marine sciences graduate student connects passion for sailing to ocean preservation

UGA goes Beyond the Arch to the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography to catch up with graduate student Grace Mann, whose childhood ocean adventures drive her marine science research: She spent her first 16 years exploring the reefs, sailing the waves, and walking the shores of the Turks and Caicos Islands. These experiences instilled in Mann a love for the ocean and, eventually, a calling to protect it.  Her English-born dad and Texas-bred…

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2025 Cora Nunnally Miller Arts Scholars

The Franklin College has named four current first year undergraduates as 2025 Cora Nunnally Miller Scholars in the Fine Arts. Each student will receive a $2,500 scholarship, in addition to any scholarships they currently receive. The support is continuous to the student in each of the future three years as long as they continue as majors in the arts with good academic standing. The purpose of the scholarship, made possible as part of a…

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Study Abroad in Buenos Aires frames bilingual experiences

Romance Languages graduate student and WUGA staffer Emma Auer reports from the department's study abroad program in Argentina, designed for career-shaping experiences among the people and culture in one of the most diverse cities in the Americas. Auer's report on Athens News Matters: Nearing midnight on a Tuesday, 20 or so University of Georgia fans stumbled towards the stadium doors. They’ve just spent two hours on their feet cheering and…

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Individuals benefit differently from fish oil, depending on genotype

The health benefits of fish oil have expanded in recent years. As laboratory breakthroughs expand the understanding of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids’ impact on brain health and warding off a variety of cancers, uptake in the public has followed.  The positive feedback loop continues to inspire new laboratory investigations, and now University of Georgia researchers have published a new study describing how genetic factors modify the…

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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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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…

photo of sunset on ocean
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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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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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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