UGA Columns July 27, 2015

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University hosts national teaching conference on Reacting to the Past CAMPUS NEWS

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The University of Georgia Grassland String Band to perform July 28 as part of Sunflower Concert series

Vol. 43, No. 2

July 27, 2015

www.columns.uga.edu

sfahmy@uga.edu

Christy Fricks

From left, UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Dean J. Scott Angle, PMIL Director Dave Hoisington, Food for Kids Ag research specialist Will Sheard, Meds and Food for Kids agronomist Jean Phillipe Dorzin and UGA plant pathologist Bob Kemerait discuss peanut production at a farm in Haiti.

Down on the farm

College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences faculty visit peanut facilities in Haiti christyfricks@uga.edu, jmerritt@uga.edu

While UGA is known as a hub for peanut research, sometimes the research with the most impact is conducted on farms in countries that will benefit the most from the findings.

J. Scott Angle, UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dean, and Amrit Bart, director of global programs at the college, visited several of UGA’s research partners in Haiti last month to see how the college could help Haitians improve the safety and effectiveness of food production.

The trip was hosted by the U.S. government’s Feed the Future

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UGA adds faculty, course sections to reduce large classes

By Sam Fahmy

By Christy Fricks and J. Merritt Melancon

UGA GUIDE

Peanut and Mycotoxin Innovation Lab. Based in the college, the lab works with colleagues in Haiti to improve peanut production and processing, including monitoring and controlling mycotoxins, which can taint foods.

“Working with the Haitian people and on their farms is critical to understanding their needs, which then helps us build meaningful international research programs at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,” Bart said. “As home to some of the leading researchers in food safety, peanut breeding and peanut pathology, we are in the position to improve people’s lives in a very real and immediate way by helping to make sure their important crops are productive,

profitable and safe.”

This trip is part of the college’s ongoing effort to help developing nations provide their citizens with high-quality protein and build their own agricultural economies through more efficient, productive agriculture.

From June 10-14, Angle and Bart toured facilities that receive support from PMIL’s network of scientists, including Acceso Peanut Enterprise Corporation’s depot, the Partners in Health ready-touse therapeutic food factory and a peanut nursery and research site.

Angle and Bart participated in a half-day workshop with U.S. and Haitian government, research and private sector representatives to learn about priorities for addressing See HAITI on page 4

In the latest in a series of steps to enhance the learning environment, UGA is investing $4.4 million to reduce class sizes by hiring faculty and creating more than 300 new course sections.

“This major initiative demonstrates the University of Georgia’s strong commitment to putting students first,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Reducing the number of large class sections in critical instruction areas will improve student learning and success and further enhance our world-class learning environment.”

The first of the new faculty members will begin teaching this fall, and a total of 56 will be hired in the coming year. By fall 2016, a total of 319 new course sections in 81 majors will be added, the majority of which will have fewer than 20 students.

UGA currently has a 17-to-1 student/faculty ratio, and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten said that the new courses will help ensure students receive even more personalized attention from their professors.

She added that the push to decrease class sizes at UGA builds

See CLASSES on page 4

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Hiring initiative underway to recruit informatics faculty

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

UGA President Jere W. Morehead and Provost Pamela Whitten have announced a new hiring initiative focused on recruiting faculty to enhance the university’s instruction and scholarship in the rapidly growing field of informatics.

The initiative will create up to eight new tenure-stream positions in informatics, a broad field that encompasses the collection, classification, storage, retrieval, analysis and dissemination of massive data sets. The deans of all of UGA’s schools and colleges have been invited to submit proposals.

“The University of Georgia is committed to recruiting exceptional faculty members who are engaged in world-changing scholarship,” Morehead said. “The informatics faculty who join the

institution through this initiative will profoundly impact instruction and research in multiple disciplines on campus and will increase opportunities for outreach across our state.”

Whitten said that informatics is inherently interdisciplinary, both as an academic discipline as well as in its applications. Massive amounts of data are generated through clinical trials, for example, as well as through genome studies in medicine and agriculture.

Social and political scientists are mining huge amounts of data from the Internet, social media and political polling, often with a geographic focus superimposed.

Humanists are increasingly exploring digital archives, while business analysts seek access to large data sets for financial market analysis, supply chain management and See INFORMATICS on page 4

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Four finalists named for medical partnership deanship $2.9M NIH grant will fund

By Sam Fahmy

sfahmy@uga.edu

Four finalists have been named for the position of campus dean of the Georgia Regents University/ University of Georgia Medical Partnership.

The finalists will visit or have visited Athens and Augusta to meet with faculty, staff, students and community members.

The finalists and the dates of their presentations at UGA are • Dr. Frederick “Rick” Barr, the Suzan B. Thames Professor and chair of the pediatrics department at the University of Mississippi

Medical Center, July 28.

• Dr. Klea Bertakis, a professor and chair of the family and community medicine department at the University of California, Davis, Aug. 4.

• Dr. Michael Kozal, a professor of medicine in the section of infectious diseases at the Yale School of Medicine and acting chief of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System medical service, Aug. 5.

The fourth finalist, Dr. Charles Wiener, gave his presentation on July 23. Wiener is a professor of medicine and physiology and director of international education and training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

A 15-member committee chaired by Houston Davis, University System of Georgia executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, conducted a national search to identify the finalists. The committee was assisted by Parker Executive Search.

Each finalist will make a presentation from 6-7 p.m. in Room 228 of Russell Hall on the UGA Health Sciences Campus.

Faculty, staff, students, physicians and other community members are invited to attend.

The CVs of the finalists and candidate feedback forms are available at http://t.uga.edu/1Ec.

exploration of gender identity

By Kristen Morales kmorales@uga.edu

UGA researchers will partner with other universities as part of a national study on identity development in transgender populations, the largest study of its kind to date.

The five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health supports three study sites and partner institutions: New York City (Columbia University), San Francisco (San Francisco State University) and Atlanta (UGA).

The study will look at how people

who identify as transgender developed their identity and gauge how they overcome adversity at different stages in their lives.

Anneliese Singh Through surveys and interviews, the national partnership will help lay the groundwork for putting social services and support networks in place for

See GRANT on page 4

2 July 27, 2015 columns.uga.edu

Digest UGA, Food Bank of Northeast Georgia partner to aid access to local food, jobs

The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia’s food hub, housed in its Rabun County facility, will be the first in the country to leverage a regional food bank’s supply chain to help farmers aggregate and preserve their produce. In partnership with UGA Cooperative Extension, the organizations will join forces to increase access to local food and local jobs.

UGA Extension will provide food hub farmers with the business and technical training needed to make the most of the new distribution system.

The project will help small and beginning farmers meet the growing demand for local produce and access to flash-freezing equipment. The frozen food line not only will allow farmers to sell their produce year-round, but it also will supply the food bank’s clients with more locally sourced vegetables.

The training program and logistics services will be available to farmers this growing season. The flash-freezing system should be available in late fall.

If the partnership between the food bank and UGA is successful, the Food Hub of Northeast Georgia could become a national model for food hubs.

The food bank, which collects and distributes food over a 14-county area in northeast Georgia, will use a network of trucks, truck drivers and warehouses to support the regional food hub.

Together with farm business training programs offered through UGA Extension, the food hub project and the frozen food equipment will allow farmers to expand their operations, making family farms economically profitable.

New OLLI officers, board members elected

Betty Jean Craige, the former director of UGA’s Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, became president of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UGA on July 1. Craige, who also is professor emerita of comparative literature, succeeded Tom Kenyon in the position.

Other officers elected at OLLI’s annual meeting for the 2015-2016 term are Lee Albright, presidentelect; Andy Horne, vice president; Cheryl Copeland, secretary; and Victor Gagliano, treasurer.

Newly elected board members include Gary Bertsch, Heidi Davison, Nancy Grayson, Ian Hardin and Clover Weller. Randall Abney, Sandy Clark, Joseph Harris, Richard Lynch, Jill Read (re-elected) and Les Shindelman are remaining as board members.

Also at the annual meeting, outgoing President Kenyon presented the Carol Fisher Award, which recognizes “long and significant contributions to the functioning of OLLI@UGA,” to Randall Abney, Dick Lynch and John Songster. Although all three have had numerous leadership roles over the years, Abney’s most recent position was marketing committee chair, Lynch was chairman of the long-range planning committee and Songster was treasurer.

Digital Library of Georgia expands Savannah Historic Newspapers Archive

The electronic archive of Savannah’s historic newspapers has been expanded through the Digital Library of Georgia, based at the UGA Libraries.

The Savannah Historic Newspapers Archive (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/savnewspapers) provides online access to 17 newspaper titles published in Savannah from 1809 to 1880. Consisting of more than 103,000 newspaper pages, the archive provides historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date. Additionally, the site is compatible with all current browsers without the use of plug-ins or software downloads.

The Savannah Historic Newspapers Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia, as part of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative.

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ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

University hosts national teaching conference on Reacting to the Past

By Aaron Hale

aahale@uga.edu

Faculty from universities and colleges across the U.S. mixed work and play at the Reacting to the Past Game Development Conference held July 15-18 at UGA. The national conference, hosted by UGA’s Reacting to the Past Program and the Center for Teaching and Learning, centered on the college-level teaching game Reacting to the Past, which connects students to history.

In the role-playing game, students are assigned roles in a “crucible moment in history,” said Naomi Norman, an associate vice president for instruction at UGA. In these student-run games, players use primary and secondary texts to debate ideas and persuade other players to win the game.

“They’re not just reading material, they also have to actively engage with it,” said Melissa Harshman, an associate professor and printmaking chair at the Lamar School of Art. Harshman, played a game for the first time during the conference and is interested in using a game for her upcoming First-Year Odyssey class Printmaking: A Hands-On Experience.

Pioneered in the late 1990s by Mark C. Carnes, a professor of history at Barnard College, the Reacting to the Past curriculum has been implemented by faculty at hundreds of colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. Reacting to the Past has been at UGA since 2003.

There were two purposes to the conference. The first was to introduce Reacting to the Past to interested faculty.

On the first day of the conference, the

Robert Newcomb

Linda Bachman, UGA’s director of experiential learning, plays the part of wealthy merchant John Tatnall during a game about the nature of religious freedom, democracy and the rights of women.

so-called “Newbie Day,” faculty with no Reacting to the Past experience spent the day playing a game centered on the trial of Anne Hutchinson in 17th-century New England. Led by Chase Hagood, assistant CTL director and co-director of the Reacting to the Past Program at UGA, the game dealt with the nature of religious freedom, democracy and the rights of women.

Andy Owsiak, an assistant professor of international affairs in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs, played a key role in the game as a New England governor in charge of banishing Hutchinson for espousing heretic religious beliefs.

Owsiak found himself arguing for a position counter to modern American beliefs about religious freedom.

“It’s hard to buy fully into something

SOCIAL WORK, PUBLIC HEALTH

Assistant professor will explore health disparities research at NIH campus

By Laurie Anderson laurie@uga.edu

Trina Salm Ward, an assistant professor in the UGA School of Social Work and an assistant professor of health promotion and behavior in the College of Public Health, will participate in an intensive two-week course on health disparities research at the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, during the first two weeks of August.

Admission to the course, which is sponsored by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Trina Salm Ward is highly competitive. Last year 94 out of 340 applicants were chosen to participate.

“I am committed to health equity, and this course seemed like a great way to build my skills in that field at the scientific, practice and policy level,” said Salm Ward, whose research interests focus on maternal and infant health disparities.

Health disparities are preventable differences in health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The NIMHD Translational Health Disparities Course integrates various disciplines to better understand the health challenges of particular groups of people, including but not limited to African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, the rural poor, and sexual and gender identity minorities.

The course examines the determinants of health for these and other populations from public policy, human rights, social and behavioral science, and biological and genetic perspectives.

In addition to lectures and panel discussions, participants work in teams on real-life case studies and meet NIH staff engaged in health disparities research.

“I am thrilled at the opportunity to learn from internationally recognized experts in health disparities science,” said Salm Ward, who also coordinates the dual master’s degree program in social work and public health at UGA. “I know I will learn a lot and plan to apply what I learn to my work to improve maternal and infant health here in Georgia.”

you don’t believe,” he said, “but it does allow you to try on different opinions and see things from a different point of view. That’s really what I encourage my students to do.”

The rest of the conference was dedicated to testing and developing games revolving around historical events that could be used for a variety of disciplines, including ones about Alan Turing’s development of the computer, the Guerrilla Girls art movement of the 1980s and the U.S. decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan.

“UGA is the perfect place to hold the game development conference because we have more (Reacting) game authors on this campus than almost anywhere in the U.S.,” Norman said. “It’s a great way to show off UGA and expose even more UGA faculty to the pedagogy.”

OBITUARIES Alphonse Buccino

Former College of Education dean Alphonse “Al” Buccino, a former dean of UGA’s College of Education, died July 6 in Baltimore after a brief illness.

He was 84.

Born in 1931 to Italian immigrants, Buccino grew up in New York City. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War, he earned a doctorate in mathematics at the University of Chicago. Known for his support of research, education and policy, Buccino was recruited as dean of the education college at UGA. He held that position from 1984 to 1992 and again for about Alphonse Buccino a year after returning from the White House, where he worked as an adviser in the Office of Science and Technology in 1992-1993. Buccino is survived by his wife of 62 years, Estelle A. Buccino, his son, Daniel, and two granddaughters, Carlene and Claudia Buccino.

Thomas Vigliotta Catholic Center director

The Rev. Thomas F. Vigliotta, director of UGA’s Catholic Center, died July 4 in New Jersey at age 66.

A native of Long Island, New York, Vigliotta served the Catholic Center community for more than 10 years. He is survived by his father, sisters, brothers and other relatives.

A memorial service was held July 24.

Carl McCoy

Retired CVIOG project director Carl L. McCoy, a retired project director at UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, died June 28. He was 61.

Born in 1953 in Augusta, McCoy served in the U.S. Army in Fort Hood, Texas, and Frankfurt, Germany. He received a bachelor’s degree in U.S. history from Paine College and a master’s degree in social history from UGA. McCoy is survived by his wife of 38 years, Georgetta Parks McCoy, daughter, Courtney McCoy Waller, and Carl McCoy grandchildren, Carys and Asher Waller.

UGAGUIDE

columns.uga.edu July 27, 2015

For a complete listing of events, check the Master Calendar on the Web (calendar.uga.edu/­).

The following events are open to the public, unless otherwise specified. Dates, times and locations may change without advance notice.

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Grassland String Band to perform July 28

The Grassland String Band will perform the next concert in the State Botanical Garden’s Sunflower Concert Series July 28 at 7 p.m.

The Grassland String Band will offer its take on bluegrass/Americana music with special guest Claire Campbell from the acclaimed band Hope For Agoldensummer.

The concert is in the Flower Garden. In case of inclement weather, the concert will be held inside the garden’s visitor center and conservatory.

Tickets are $15, $5 for children ages 6-12. Admission includes beverages and light snacks.

Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and picnic dinners. Lawn chairs are allowed on one designated level of the terraced Flower Garden.

Future concerts include: • Aug. 25: Grogus returns for its annual celebration of Latin jazz, traditional Cuban and Caribbean styles and funk versions of jazz standards. The band is a past recipient of the Flagpole Athens Music Award in both the jazz and world music categories; and • Sept. 29: Arvin Scott with Marti Winkler. Drummer/percussionist Scott, a faculty member in Franklin College’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music, and his combo will deliver a jazz performance. Jazz singer Winkler will open the show.

For information about the concert series or to purchase tickets, see www. botgarden.uga.edu, visit the Garden Gift Shop or call 706-542-9353.

EXHIBITIONS Terra Verte. Through July 31. The exhibition of works is by Scottish artist Patricia Leighton. It consists of six “growing cubes” or elevated frameworks of steel filled with living vegetation that are situated throughout the three tiers of the outdoor space.

Inspired by the interaction of art and site, Leighton works in tandem with a team of ecologists, engineers, architects and landscape architects to produce large-scale commissions that relate to the history of a given site and relevant natural conditions. Jane and Harry Willson Sculpture Garden, Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817, hazbrown@uga.edu .

Lines of Inquiry: Renaissance and Baroque Drawings from the Ceseri Collection. Through Aug. 2. The exhibition features 11 drawings from the collection of Giuliano Ceseri on extended loan to the Georgia Museum of Art. Beth Fadeley, a doctoral candidate in art history at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, worked with students in Shelley Zuraw’s spring 2015 class The Art of Drawing to put the exhibition together. It focuses on techniques, themes and stylistic developments in European drawing from the Renaissance to the Baroque. Alonzo and Vallye Dudley Gallery, Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817, hazbrown@uga.edu Both Sides: Destruction and Pain in the Civil War. Through Aug. 7. Hargrett Gallery, special collections libraries.

706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu .

The Art of Kate Sherrill. Through Aug. 9.

Kate Sherrill has worked as a professional artist and designer for over 20 years. She has created many commissioned portraits and murals and enjoys working in oil, pencil, watercolor and pastel. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-9353.

Cooking the Books. Through Aug. 31. An exhibit from the private press collection of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Hargrett Gallery, special collections libraries. 706-542-0674, acme@uga.edu .

El Taller de Grafica Popular: Vida y Arte.

Through Sept. 13. Covering the period from El Taller de Grafica Popular predecessor—the League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists—through the most active years of the workshop, this exhibition of approximately 270 works presents an extensive collection of large-scale posters (carteles), small fliers (volantes), books and pamphlets, powerful fine art portfolios and calavera newspapers that exemplifies TGP’s lasting contributions to the Mexican printmaking tradition.

Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817, hazbrown@uga.edu .

SUNFLOWER CONCERT The Grassland String Band will bring its take on bluegrass/Americana music.

To include a set with special guest Claire Campbell from the acclaimed band Hope For Agoldensummer. $15; $5 children ages 6-12. 7 p.m. Flower Garden lawn, State Botanical Garden.

706-542-6014, connicot@uga.edu (See story, above).

Art Hazelwood and Ronnie Goodman.

Through Sept. 13. The two California Bay Area artists confront and tackle such present-day realities as homelessness, poverty, war, corruption and violence in their art. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-1817, hazbrown@uga.edu .

SHORT SESSION II CLASSES END

TUESDAY, JULY 28 THRU TERM AND EXTENDED SUMMER SESSION CLASSES END SUMMER TUESDAY TOUR Led by a docent. 2 p.m. Special collections libraries. 706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu .

MEETING: THE REST OF THE STORY BOOK CLUB Sponsored by the UGA special collections libraries, the book for July is Janisse Ray’s Drifting into Darien. Light refreshments will be served. 5:30 p.m.

258 special collections libraries.

706-542-5788, jlevinso@uga.edu .

GRU/UGA MEDICAL PARTNERSHIP DEAN FINALIST PRESENTATION Dr. Frederick “Rick” Barr, the Suzan B. Thames Professor and chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, will give a presentation. 6 p.m. 228 Russell Hall, Health Sciences Campus. (See story, page 1).

Calendar items are taken from Columns files and from the university’s Master Calendar, maintained by Public Affairs.

Notices are published here as space permits, with priority given to items of multidisciplinary interest. The Master Calendar is available on the Web at calendar.uga.edu/.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29 EXTENDED SUMMER SESSION AND THRU TERM FINAL EXAMS. Through July 30.

TOUR AT TWO Highlights from the permanent collection. Led by docents. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu .

THURSDAY, JULY 30 SHORT SESSION II FINAL EXAMS

FRIDAY, JULY 31 FULL MOON HIKE The trails at the State Botanical Garden offer much to discover at night, especially during summer. Participants can see the lightning bug display, search for glow worms and phosphorescent fungus and hear the frogs, cicadas and katydids. Each walk will focus on a different topic. Participants should be prepared to hike up to 2 miles on wooded trails and in the garden. Those with young children or infants are advised to bring a backpack carrier.

Preregistration is required. $5; $15 per family. 7 p.m. Visitor Center fountain, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6156, ckeber@uga.edu .

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 PERFORMANCE: ATHENS BRASS CHOIR This popular annual concert by brass musicians often includes classical

music, marches and show tunes. 3 p.m.

Visitor Center and Conservatory, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6014, connicot@uga.edu .

MONDAY, AUGUST 3 GRADES DUE Grades for Extended Summer Session, Thru Term and Short Session II are due by 5 p.m.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4 SUMMER TUESDAY TOUR Led by a docent. 2 p.m. Special collections libraries. 706-542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu .

CLASS: DOG DAYS OF BLOOMERS This class will focus on bulbs, perennials and blooming shrubs that extend the blooming season. The class will meet in a classroom for a presentation and then explore the grounds to see what color these bloomers can provide in the summer months. $12. 6 p.m. Visitor Center’s Adult Classroom, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6156, ckeber@uga.edu .

GRU/UGA MEDICAL PARTNERSHIP DEAN FINALIST PRESENTATION Dr. Klea Bertakis, professor and chair of the department of family and community medicine at the University of California, Davis, will give a presentation.

6 p.m. 228 Russell Hall, Health Sciences Campus. (See story, page 1).

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5 NEW FACULTY ORIENTATION All new, full-time faculty members are invited to attend, regardless of rank.

8 a.m. A reception will follow at 3:45 p.m. Georgia Center.

ARTFUL CONVERSATION Join Carissa DiCindio, curator of education, for an in-depth conversation about selected works in the exhibition Ralph Chesse. 2 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu .

TO SUBMIT A LISTING FOR THE MASTER CALENDAR AND COLUMNS Post event information first to the Master Calendar website (calendar.uga.edu/). Listings for Columns are taken from the Master Calendar 12 days before the publication date. Events not posted by then may not be printed in Columns.

Any additional information about the event may be sent directly to Columns. Email is preferred (columns@uga.edu), but materials can be mailed to Columns, News Service, 286 Oconee Street, Suite 200 North, Campus Mail 1999.

GRU/UGA MEDICAL PARTNERSHIP DEAN FINALIST PRESENTATION Dr. Michael Kozal, professor of medicine in the section of infectious diseases at the Yale School of Medicine and acting chief of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System medical service, will give a presentation. 6 p.m. 228 Russell Hall, Health Sciences Campus. (See story, page 1).

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6 MUSEUM MIX The museum’s thrice-annual late-night art party features a DJ and free refreshments; all the galleries will be open until midnight. 8 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu .

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 FRIENDS FIRST FRIDAY “Friends Flea Market.” Participants will hear about some of the most interesting items to be sold at the flea market, a few stories and something new happening at this sale. This monthly event includes a full breakfast and an opportunity to meet new people while learning about the garden, gardening or garden history. RSVP to 706-542-6138

by Aug. 5. $12. 9 a.m. Visitor Center, State Botanical Garden. 706-542-6138.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 SPOTLIGHT TOUR Highlights from the permanent collection. Led by docents. 3 p.m. Georgia Museum of Art. 706-542-4662, hazbrown@uga.edu .

COMING UP FALL SEMESTER CLASSES BEGIN Aug. 17.

DROP/ADD FOR FALL SEMESTER Aug. 17. For undergraduate and graduate level courses. Through Aug. 21.

NEXT COLUMNS DEADLINES July 29 (for Aug. 10 issue) Aug. 5 (for Aug. 17 issue) Aug. 12 (for Aug. 24 issue)

4 July 27, 2015 columns.uga.edu

Andrew Davis Tucker

IN THE SWIM—Assistant swimming coach Stefanie Williams gets her lunchtime workout in while swimming laps at Legion Pool. UGA’s Andrew Davis Tucker recently received the bronze award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education for the photograph.

Mike Sullivan

Members of the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography collect a water sample from the Skidaway River during Ocean Sampling Day June 21.

Skidaway Institute of Oceanography takes part in worldwide Sampling Day

By Mike Sullivan

mike.sullivan@skio.uga.edu

Scientists at the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography joined researchers around the globe in a worldwide Ocean Sampling Day June 21, the summer solstice.

This was the second year Skidaway researchers have participated in the Ocean Sampling Day event.The first was conducted last year, also on the summer solstice. The event focuses on simultaneous sampling of microbes in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes waters.

This year, 191 marine research locations, from the Rothera Research Station in Antarctica to Goteborg University in Sweden, participated.The sampling program supports international missions to provide information on the diversity of microbes, their function and their potential economic benefits.

“It’s a global effort to take a snapshot of microbes across the world’s oceans at the same time, on the same day, in this case, the summer solstice,” said Marc Frischer, Skidaway Institute professor.

Frischer cited the significance of the project by describing microbes as the “engines of our planet” and said half the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by microbes in the ocean.

Skidaway Institute scientists collected samples at two locations. One team collected and processed samples from the Skidaway River estuary immediately adjacent to the Skidaway Institute campus. That also served as part of an ongoing water-quality monitoring program Skidaway Institute has supported for more than 25 years. A second group teamed up with scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and collected samples from Gray’s Reef.

The 14,000-acre marine sanctuary is located about 17 miles off the Sapelo Island coast.

“We helped Gray’s Reef by collecting and processing their samples in the way they

needed to be done,” Frischer said. “You really need a laboratory for that, and we were able to provide that.”

One goal of the global project is to note the commonalities and the differences among the microbial communities around the globe. Some of those differences were seen just in the samples collected at Gray’s Reef and at the Skidaway campus, two sites only 40 miles apart.

“We generally observe a larger number of smaller organisms out in the ocean, which makes sense because they are adapting to a system with lower nutrients,” Frischer said.

“We also saw a different kind of photosynthetic organism since there is much more light available in the ocean compared to the rather turbid waters in our estuary.”

Much of the fieldwork at both Skidaway Institute and Gray’s Reef was handled by undergraduate students gaining research experience at Skidaway Institute this summer. These included students from UGA and Savannah State University’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program.

All samples and data were sent to Bremen, Germany, for DNA extraction and sequencing to ensure maximum comparability. The resulting data will be made public as soon as quality checks are finished.These cumulative samples, related in time, space and environmental parameters, will provide insights into fundamental rules describing microbial diversity and function and contribute to the blue, or oceanic, economy through the identification of novel, ocean-derived biotechnologies.

Jointly coordinated by Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany, and the University of Oxford in the U.K., Ocean Sampling Day is part of the European Union-funded Ocean of Tomorrow research project Micro B3.

“It is really important to have a global perspective,” Frischer said. “We are glad we can participate in what they are now calling ‘gigascience’ where we are collecting a snapshot from all over the world. It is amazing.”

Bulletin Board Course reserve lists

The UGA Libraries is accepting course reserve lists for fall semester, which begins Aug. 17.

Instructors can place course material on reserve to ensure that all students in their classes have access to it. Physical materials are located at various libraries across campus and online content, or e-reserves, may be accessed both on and off campus.

The course reserve deadline is July 31.

For more information, contact Mollie Armour at 706-542-2081 or mainresv@uga.edu or Brenda Robbins at sciresv@uga.edu or 706-542-4535.

Office 2016 for Mac software

Office 2016 for Mac is now available in Office 365 for UGA employees and students to install on personally owned devices.

Mac users can update to Office 2016 by logging into their Web-based UGAMail account and clicking on the

INFORMATICS

from page 1 risk assessment. Whitten added that computer science and engineering are pivotal to the technological solutions that will advance informatics in all areas of study.

“Fields ranging from health care to the sciences, humanities and engineering see the tremendous potential of leveraging massive

volumes of data to yield significant advances in research,” she said. “Many of our faculty members already are on the cutting edge of informatics, and this hiring initiative signals our commitment to ensuring that UGA is a leader in using complex data sets to address some of the world’s most significant challenges.”

GRANT from page 1 ultimately reducing the massive amounts of discrimination they face,” said Anneliese Singh, an associate professor of counseling and human development services in the UGA College of Education.

She previously has researched gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer populations, investigating the resilience people build as a result of discrimination.

Singh, who is leading the Atlanta team in this study, describes gender identity as the internal way in which people experience and define their gender.

“People tend to have an internal sense of being a woman or a man,” Singh said.

“Transgender people may not fit neatly into this gender binary as transgender people may not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.”

CLASSES from page 1

upon a series of academic enhancements the institution has implemented in recent years.

Last fall, the university hired 10 new faculty to teach in 80 high-demand course sections. In the spring, the university approved a new graduation requirement that will make UGA the largest public university in the nation to require that each of its nearly 27,000 undergraduate students engage in experiential learning—

HAITI

from page 1 safe and nutritious foods, including the concern over mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin, are poisonous compounds produced by molds found in many commodities, including peanuts and maize. Aflatoxin exposure in humans has been associated with many negative health effects, such as liver cancer, immune suppression and

The NIH study is unique because of its proactive focus. Until now, major studies on transgender populations have been reactive, typically associated with HIV. “There are a lot of things we already know that need to be changed,” said Singh, citing issues such as discrimination at home or in the workplace.

Transgender people experience high rates of violence, transgender youth experience high rates of homelessness, and there is a higher rate of suicide attempts for transgender people than the average population.

“But once we know more about transgender identity development,” Singh said, “we will be able to develop better intervention and prevention initiatives so transgender people can thrive.”

such as internships, research, study abroad or service-learning—prior to graduation.

“UGA offers the broad range of resources and opportunities that a major research university provides as well as personalized and hands-on learning experiences that are typically associated with smaller universities,” Whitten said.“It’s the best of both worlds, and it’s exactly what our world-class students deserve.”

stunting of childhood development.

Researchers associated with PMIL at UGA are working with producers to develop practices that reduce mycotoxins in their crops and are working with peanut buyers to test for toxins and create incentives for farmers to produce low-mycotoxin nuts.

ABOUT COLUMNS

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Click on the Software tab to select the option to install Office 2016 for Mac. UGA students, faculty and staff can install Office ProPlus software on up to five personal devices.

Microsoft is expected to release a Windows version of Office 2016 later this year.

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Editor Juliett Dinkins Art Director Janet Beckley Photo Editor Robert Newcomb Senior Reporter Aaron Hale Reporter Matt Chambers Copy Editor David Bill The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.

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The University of Georgia is a unit of the University System of Georgia.