Kudos, February 2019

Fantastic news from grants and awards to scholarships and fellowships highlight faculty and student accomplishments during February. A sample:

Georgia Coastal Ecosystems, a research program based at the University of Georgia Marine Institute, was renewed for another six years by the National Science Foundation with $6.7 million in funding. According to Marine Institute director and professor of marine sciences Merryl Alber, this next six-year chapter will focus on ecological disturbance—an appropriate theme for GCE-IV, since its home base at Sapelo has been substantially renovated after being flooded by Hurricane Irma in September 2017

Research scientists Irene Glowinski and Jim Vaught have established the Christopher Henry Vaught Scholarship in Science Policy at the University of Georgia

Research teams at UGA Bioexpression and Fermentation Facility and the University of Pennsylvania, along with four private firms, are taking part in an 18-month federally sponsored project led by the Georgia Institute of Technology that will develop a much-needed curriculum to train workers for the fledgling cell manufacturing industry 

UGAHacks emphasizes innovation, teamwork during the 4^thannual UGA hackathon

Benjamin Boward, a Ph.D. student in biochemistry and molecular biology, was among the UGA people and programs recognized by Georgia Bio, the association for Georgia’s life sciences industry, at its 2019 annual awards dinner Feb. 8 in Atlanta

History faculty member Jennifer Palmer, will collaborate on a project to digitize materials printed before 1820 during the colonial, revolutionary, and early independence periods in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti)

Head of Design and Associate Professorin the department of theatre and film studies Ivan Ingermann is serving as lead costume designer for the world premiere of Faith Salie's one-woman show Approval Junkie. The show will premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta on April 5 on the Hertz Stage. 

Associate Professor and veteran of scenic design Julie Ray is working on her own world premiere musical, Men with Money, with Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, GA (cofounded by UGA alumnus Anthony Rodriguez). Men with Money premieres on March 7, 2019. Later in March, Aurora's lab series production of Erma Brombeck: At Wit's End will be designed by current MFA Scenic Designer Liz Gubler

UGA’s 16 acceptances for the Fulbright U.S. student program this year earned the university its highest ranking yet on the student list of Fulbright Top Producers. The university tied for 16th—along with Stanford University, University of Virginia, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Villanova University

Assistant professor Katie Ehrlichis a recipient of the 2019 Association for Psychological Science Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, which APS presents annually to individuals who have made transformative early career contributions to psychological science

Labs and research support spaces across campus, including facilities in the department of physics and astronomy, will be getting an upgrade, thanks to a $1.5 million presidential initiative that seeks to build on the university’s dramatic growth in research activity

Assistant professor of genetics Tessa Andrews is one of two UGA faculty members leading efforts to educate the next generation of scientists who were honored for innovative teaching and mentorship with awards from the University System of Georgia

Assistant professors Elizabeth Harveyof marine sciences and Rachel Roberts-Galbraith of cellular biology have been awarded a prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship to support their research for the next two years

Image: Maggie Little, center, is surrounded by her students at an all-girls middle school on Jeju Island in South Korea. A UGA Honors alumna from Cumming who graduated in May 2018, Little is teaching English through the Fulbright U.S. student program.