Tags: geology

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Holland named Shellebarger professor in Geology

Steven Holland, paleobiologist and expert in stratigraphy, has been selected as the Shellebarger Professor in Geology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. The professorship is supported by a gift from Sydney (BSHE ’79) and Jeff (BS ’78, MS ’80) Shellebarger, former president of Chevron’s North American exploration and production operations. Jeff Shellebarger currently serves on the executive committee of the UGA Geology Alumni Board.…

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UGA Volcanologist to serve as Geological Society of America Distinguished Lecturer

Mattia Pistone, assistant professor of Petrology and Volcanology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of geology will serve as the 2024-2025 Distinguished Lecturer of the Continental Scientific Drilling Division of the Geological Society of America. Director of the MAGMA MIA Laboratory, Pistone is one of the seven PIs leading the ICDP DIVE (Drilling the Ivrea-Verbano zonE) project, and an enthusiastic researcher investigating…

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USG honors Nzengung as Regents' Entrepreneur

In recognition of his success in developing the tools and expertise to counteract some of the most environmentally toxic byproducts of military materiel, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved Valentine Nzengung as Regents’ Entrepreneur at its Feb. 13 meeting. Nzengung is the third UGA faculty member to receive this honor. The distinction recognizes innovative faculty members who have demonstrated success in translating…

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Paving the way for Partnerships for Essential Minerals

UGA, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University and the Georgia Mining Association kicked off February with the first of what promises to be a long-standing workshop to develop essential, critical mineral resources in Georgia. The Georgia Essential Minerals (GEMs) workshop at UGA featured geology faculty experts and stakeholders from across government and industry: Demand for critical minerals and rare earth elements is rapidly increasing as the…

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Georgia Essential Minerals (GEMs) Workshop Unites Government, Industry and Academia

The University of Georgia, together with Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, and the Georgia Mining Association, will host the inaugural workshop for partnerships to develop essential critical minerals on Thursday February 1, 2024, at the Georgia Center Hotel and Conference Center. The event brings together 45 participants from government, industry, and academia to discuss opportunities around critical mineral supplies in Georgia and in the…

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Divisional spotlight: Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Much like the five element families of the Periodic Table, the Franklin College is also comprised of five divisions that characterize the properties, behavior, and reactions among and between the many academic disciplines that drive innovation and creativity at the University of Georgia.  We continue to welcome 2024 by highlighting the divisional nature of our organizational structure and the academic units contained in each division. Today…

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Two UGA doctoral students win international Geology Award

Two Franklin College doctoral students won the Farouk El Baz Student Research Award from the Geological Society of America. The primary role of the GSA research grants program is to provide partial support of master's and doctoral thesis research in the geological sciences for graduate students enrolled in universities in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. The highly regarded Farouk El Baz Award for desert research is…

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Kudos, October 2023

In the campus community, across the state and around the nation, we applaud the outstanding work by Franklin College faculty and students announced during October. A sample of the awards, grants, performances, and milestones: Organizers of this year’s Atlanta Art Week invited nine M.F.A. students at the Lamar Dodd School of Art to present the group exhibition “Unlisted” at The Works in Atlanta’s Upper Westside. The discipline of dance:…

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Franklin College Digitizes Buried Treasure

The Pantheon Website Operations Platform followed up its celebration of the Franklin College Office of Information Technology's Web Services Team with a feature on the Team's work exploring new projects – including digitizing enormous collections of specimens and artifacts in UGA collections:   The Web Services team has embarked on an exciting journey: seeking to digitize all of the collections housed within the Georgia Museum of…

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Research profile: Mattia Pistone

Much like lava flows, Mattia Pistone began his interest in volcanology and petrology via an energetic and wandering path. It started in Pistone’s hometown of Pescara, Italy, when he began studying Latin literature and noting how the Romans used nature as a model for technology. The Romans are known as excellent engineers, but they were also early geologists. They knew that choosing the right rock for the right purpose could lead to longstanding…

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The link between CO2 and big volcano eruptions

Volcanologists from the University of Georgia and two Swiss universities found a link between carbon dioxide and the volume of gas trapped in magma, which could help predict the intensity and magnitude of a volcanic eruption. Higher levels of CO2, they found, lead to an increase in the total volume of gas in magma, which may result in violent, explosive eruptions. The new findings could one day lead to better early-warning systems for…

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Geologists simulate soil conditions to help grow plants on Mars

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…

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Focus on the Faculty: Sally Walker

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…

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Georgia Groundbreakers: Valentine Nzengung

Early research in explosives remediation to clean soil contaminated with perchlorate, an oxygen-adding compound used in the manufacture of solid rocket fuel, created a path for Valentine Nzengung, professor in the department of geology, to become one of UGA's most visionary inventors and a true Georgia Groundbreaker: He has spent countless hours in his laboratory studying the properties of some of humanity’s most dangerous…

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Nzengung elected to National Academy of Inventors

Valentine Nzengung, professor of environmental geochemistry in the Franklin College Department of Geology who has conducted groundbreaking research on phytoremediation techniques, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, becoming the eighth UGA faculty member to receive the honor, all since 2013: Nzengung is the founder and CEO of MuniRem Environmental, which provides remediation products and services for…

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Franklin College Study Away Fair

At home or abroad, UGA offers an array of Study Away opportunities for students to learn and experience, discover and explore. This fall the Franklin College will host its first ever Study Away Fair at Herty Field Tuesday October 23 from noon to 3 p.m. with light refreshments and representatives from numerous College based study abroad and domestic field study programs.    “In growing numbers, Franklin College students are…

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Clay science in the 'Critical Zone'

Columns features the publication of a new book written by a Franklin faclty member on one of the most ubiquitous substances found around the world, new and dear to Georgians but crucial to everything from earthenware to building construction and especially its geological role in the 'Critcal Zone': Written by UGA faculty member Paul Schroeder, Clays in the Critical Zone considers clay science in the context of the Critical Zone, the…

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Kudos, August 2018

The summer break was glorious but Franklin College faculty, students and alumni never take time off from awards, honors, new books and fellowships. A sample from recent weeks: Professor of psychology and director of the Primate Behavior Laboratory Dorothy Fragaszy was presented with the Distinguished Primatologist Award by the American Society of Primatologists.  The award honors a primatologist who has had an…

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Doctoral Student Endures and Strengthens

Ph.D. student Isabelle Holland Lulewicz, an archaeologist studying climate change and an endurance horseback rider, is featured in the most recent issue of the Graduate School magazine: She is also a scientist and anthropologist keeping to a much longer course: to earn her third UGA degree in the fall of 2019. She completed undergraduate degrees in anthropology and geology in 2015 and entered graduate studies. Lulewicz draws…

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New anti-malware program helping keep camp computers safe

  Malware is short for malicious software and refers to software used to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information, or gain access to private computer systems. Our massive technological adavncements have introduced correlated vulnerablities never before imagined and indeed, that would be impossible in the old pen-and-paper world. Fortunately, our advances also include programs meant to disrupt and protect from these…


Faculty in the Media, September 2014

Franklin faculty continue to be reliable sources of expertise and explication on the most pressing issues of the day. A sampling of quotes and reports on UGA research: Professor comments on plagiarism charge – If author Rick Perlstein is guilty of plagiarism, “it was a minor transgression,” said Peter Charles Hoffer, Distinguished Research Professor of History.  Perlstein is being accused of the charge after the release of his new book, The…
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