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Two of UGA’s Coca-Cola First Generation Scholars discuss college experiences STUDENT PROFILE
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The 5 Browns to perform holiday favorites Dec. 8 in Hodgson Concert Hall Vol. 42, No. 18
December 1, 2014
www.columns.uga.edu
UGA GUIDE
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$18.8M grant funds continued studies of Gulf of Mexico spill By Alan Flurry
aflurry@uga.edu
Paul Efland
Caitlin Conn, a graduate student majoring in genetics, shows middle school students how carbon dioxide can be produced by dropping dry ice into a container of water during Bioenergy Day @ UGA Nov. 12.
Hands-on science
A group of scientists led by UGA’s Samantha Joye has received a new grant to continue its studies of natural oil seeps and to track the impacts of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Known as ECOGIG-2 or “Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf,” the project is a collaborative, multi-institutional effort involving biological, chemical, geological and chemical oceanographers. The research team has worked in the gulf since the weeks following the 2010 Macondo well blowout. The three-year, $18.8 million dollar ECOGIG-2 program was funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, or GoMRI. “I am so thrilled that the
ECOGIG-2 research program was selected for funding by the GoMRI research board,” said Joye, the UGA Athletic Association Samantha Joye Professor of Arts and Sciences and a professor of marine sciences. “Our work will explore the basics of oil and gas cycling at natural seeps, discern the impacts of chemical dispersants on microbial populations and their activity and on the fate of discharged hydrocarbons, use sophisticated instrumentation and physical and biogeochemical models to track hydrocarbon transport and continue to document recovery of deep-water ecosystems from the
See GRANT on page 8
Second annual Bioenergy Day @ UGA brings ACADEMIC Affairs more than 400 students, teachers to campus Michigan State U. administrator
By Terry Marie Hastings thasting@uga.edu
The enthusiasm of more than 400 seventh-graders and their teachers bounced off the glass-windowed walls of the State Botanical G arden’s tropical conservatory Nov. 12 at the second annual Bioenergy Day @ UGA. It confirmed what its planners already knew: Hands-on science at UGA is a big hit, not only with students and their teachers, but also with UGA faculty and graduate students who participated. “The kids are so excited,” said Carolyn Andrews, a seventh-grade science teacher at Coile Middle School.“Even though they are learning, they think it’s just fun.” The UGA Bioenergy Systems Research Institute sponsored the event along with the Office of Service-Learning,the State Botanical
Garden and the Office of Sustainability. Middle-schoolers need to see that “science is not just a textbook,” Andrews said. “Events like Bioenergy Day @ UGA connect them with real people who can tell them why science is so important.” The UGA faculty and graduate students who brought their science to the event also were excited. “I was surprised at the sheer number of kids,” said Jason Locklin, an associate professor in both the College of Engineering and the chemistry department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “I was also surprised by some of the really curious and pointed questions they asked. “They quickly made the connections between the fundamental concepts and workings of these cells and the photosynthesis that was going on in all of the plants around
us,” said Locklin, who demonstrated how to create solar cells from the dyes found in blackberries and raspberries with graduate students Anandi Roy and Deborah Lehman. “My grad students, who did all of the work, learned that it is always a great challenge to communicate scientific principles at different levels.” The students crowded around tables in the Botanical Garden conservatory and its patios. Nine Farming for Fuels exhibits, developed by UGA staff from the BioEnergy Science Center, or BESC, and the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, introduced basic concepts such as the carbon cycle; how woody biomass, such as trees and grasses, can produce biofuels; and the technical and economic obstacles to a bio-based fuel economy. New this year were six exhibits See BIOENERGY on page 8
named VP for instruction at UGA By Sam Fahmy
sfahmy@uga.edu
Rahul Shrivastav, a professor and administrator who has spearheaded transformative changes to the learning environment, has been named vice president for instruction. Shrivastav, whose appointment is effective Feb. 15, is currently chair of the communicative sciences and disorders department at Michigan State University, where he revised the department’s academic programs, introduced new pedagogical techniques and laid the groundwork for a new online degree program. Under his leadership, student applications to the department increased by 20 percent and
p rivate support increased by 25 percent. “ D r . Shrivastav is dedicated to creating life-changing learning opRahul Shrivastav portunities for students,” said Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten, to whom Shrivastav will report. “He brings an outstanding record of academic leadership, instruction, scholarship and service to this critical position at the University of Georgia.” Shrivastav joined Michigan
See INSTRUCTION on page 8
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
UGA student graduation rates “Georgia’s education governor” University community mourns passing of Carl Sanders increase, reach record levels By Tom Jackson
tjackson@uga.edu
Carl E. Sanders, a former Georgia governor, died Nov. 16 at age 89; UGA enjoyed an association with him that spanned more than 70 years. After enrolling at the university in 1942 on a football scholarship, Sanders withdrew from school to pilot bombers during World War II. He returned to UGA and played on the 1945 team that won the Oil Bowl; he received a law
degree in 1948. Sanders practiced law in his native Augusta and in 1954 was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. He later served three terms in the Georgia Senate before winning election in 1962 as governor. Known as “Georgia’s Education Governor,” Sanders oversaw the investment of more than $2 billion in educational and training programs, including more than $552 million spent on the state’s public colleges and universities.
Expenditures on buildings in the University System of Georgia topped $176.5 million—more than had been spent in the previous 31 years—and salaries for the system rose by 32.5 percent. An educational television network was created, vocationaltechnical education was expanded statewide and the state’s junior college system was enlarged. UGA received more than $40 million in construction funds while Sanders was governor, resulting in the start See SANDERS on page 8
By Stephanie Schupska schupska@uga.edu
From start to finish, UGA students are setting records for how quickly they are completing their bachelor’s degrees or entering professional programs. The six-year graduation rate has reached a record 84.6 percent, up from 83.2 percent a year ago. The five- and four-year rates also reached record levels in 2014. “At the University of Georgia, we strive not only to enroll
outstanding students but also to create an educational environment on campus that promotes timely completion,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Our rising graduation rates reveal the very strong commitment to student success that exists among faculty and staff at this institution.” Graduation rates are determined by the number of students from a cohort who graduate with a bachelor’s degree or enter a professional program at UGA, such as
See RATES on page 8