News Stories - Page 8

As the spring semester starts winding down, the University of Georgia’s annual Honors Week marks a time to celebrate exceptional performance in the classroom, in the service arena and in research, as faculty and graduate students are recognized for their contributions to scientific discovery. Celebrating its 45th year, UGA’s Research Awards banquet and ceremony, set for April 4, will pay tribute to those who have made groundbreaking strides in their respective fields through research, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has selected five University of Georgia researchers as 2024 NAI Senior Members, the largest single induction for the university in its history. UGA now has 16 Senior Members overall. NAI Senior Members recognize faculty, scientists, and administrators for their ability to innovate and commercialize new technologies. UGA’s 2024 inductees are Elizabeth Brisbois, David Crich, Qingguo “Jack” Huang, Paul Raymer, and Ralph Tripp.

Ten university-wide projects devoted to advancing interdisciplinary research across multiple application areas have been awarded Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grants as part of the 2023 cohort. The Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program was launched in 2017 and offered again in 2019 and 2021 through a partnership between the offices of Research and Public Service and Outreach. These 10 awards were chosen from 70 proposals and reflect a commitment of $1 million from UGA President Jere W. Morehead.

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service have broken ground on a new state-of-the-art research facility housing the Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory and the Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit. the UGA Tifton campus, the research facility will include a new, 31,000-square-foot building housing university and ARS employees working on climate-smart agricultural research.

University of Georgia plant genomics expert Robin Buell is part of an international team seeking to mine an untapped genetic resource for wheat improvement by sequencing the genomes of ancient varieties representing the worldwide diversity of bread wheat. The two-year project— called the Wheat Diversity Project — is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and will bring Buell together with researchers from the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) and collaborators in France to sequence 12 landrace genomes.

Nathan Tesfayi’s story is about resilience and big ambitions. Born in State College, Pennsylvania, to Ethiopian parents, his life journey has taken him from living in Ethiopia to studies at the University of Georgia, research with NASA and more. Tesfayi’s interest in the environment was sparked during his AP environmental sciences class at Shiloh High School in Gwinnett County.