News Stories - Page 4

University of Georgia Weather Network Director Pam Knox provides updates and analysis on the projected impact of Hurricane Helene, expected to strengthen to a Category 4 storm before making landfall. “I am running out of words to describe the catastrophe this may be, but most people that live in these areas have never experienced a storm like this before,” said Knox, agricultural climatologist in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “They will be totally unprepared for what they will have to deal with.”

The Rural Engagement Workshop for Academic Faculty at the University of Georgia has announced the list of funded faculty seed grants to address issues in rural Georgia. The grants offer funding between $5,000 and $10,000 for faculty to engage with rural Georgians on issues that are critical for their communities. The program encourages collaboration between faculty in UGA schools and colleges with faculty in Public Service and Outreach and UGA Cooperative Extension already working throughout rural Georgia.

Renowned plant genetics researcher Scott Jackson has returned to the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences as the inaugural Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar in Synthetic Biology. GRA Eminent Scholars are internationally renowned scientists recruited to Georgia’s leading research universities in collaboration with the Georgia Research Alliance. GRA Eminent Scholars are distinguished by the significance of their research discoveries and their potential for commercial application.

A new study by experts in the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is seeking to increase the value of Georgia’s peanut crops for new markets while reducing losses caused by aflatoxin, a consistent threat to the No. 1 peanut-producing state in the United States. The four-year, $490,000 grant will take a systems-based approach toward developing high-oil peanut varieties bred to withstand the unique climate and pest pressures of the Southeast.

When the University of Georgia Bulldogs step between the hedges at Sanford Stadium, the grass on Dooley Field needs to look perfect. More importantly, though, it needs to help safeguard the health of athletes who compete on it. Gerald Henry plays a big role in the latter. The UGA Athletic Association’s endowed professor in environmental turfgrass leads a research team in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences committed to creating sports fields that look good and perform well to limit the occurrence of injuries.

More than 650 turf industry professionals, golf course superintendents and local homeowners gathered at the University of Georgia Griffin campus on Aug. 7 for the 2024 Turfgrass Research Field Day. Participants learned about turf-related issues from College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences researchers and UGA Cooperative Extension specialists from all three of the university's campuses.