News Stories - Page 22

When Phyllicia Thomas walked across the stage to accept her degree in environmental law in December 2023, it was the culmination of two journeys — one toward a dream set upon as a high school student and the other an unforeseen detour she navigated with determination and the steadfast support of her family. Thomas embarked on the second journey just over a year after graduating from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in environmental economics and management in May 2019.

As the population of Gwinnett County approaches the 1 million mark, with a highly diverse demographic profile, the county's University of Georgia Cooperative Extension office is preparing to serve its changing constituency effectively. Recently, the Gwinnett County Extension Program received a $250,000 budget increase from the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners to increase staffing and expand community educational outreach and engagement to underrepresented groups around the county.

For the second consecutive year, the University of Georgia exceeded half a billion dollars in research and development expenditures. Its $570.9 million total in fiscal year 2023 represented another record high in R&D activity and marks the fifth consecutive year of growth for the university. Expenditures have increased, in fact, in all but one year since 2013. During that 10-year period, the university has seen an overall 63% increase in total R&D expenditures.

Three Georgia counties are healthier and happier thanks to five years of collaboration with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension to expand access to health and wellness programming through the Well Connected Communities initiative. The program awarded grants in 2018 to Washington, Colquitt, and Calhoun counties to establish programming for residents through collaboration with local schools, organizations, government entities, youth and adults over the five-year grant period.

University of Georgia researchers in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are part of a $3.5 million grant designed to assist organic producers in meeting both National Organic Program standards and food safety requirements. UGA food scientists will survey farms in the Southeast to determine the risk of contamination in organic crops by different environmental pathogens.

For many veterans, returning to civilian life is a stark shift from their fast-paced and service-based military life. When you combine this with the more than 4.7 million veterans who have service-based disabilities, the challenges of re-entry compound. The University of Georgia is working to assist Georgia’s veterans with this transition through its dynamic farming program, Farm Again.

Jim Gratzek, director of the University of Georgia’s Food Product Innovation and Commercialization Center, earned his doctorate in food process engineering from UGA’s Department of Food Science and Technology. He returned to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2022 after nearly 30 years in the commercial food industry, bringing a new perspective. In his experience, the biggest hurdle for new food entrepreneurs who don’t yet have sufficient working capital or manufacturing facilities is moving a product from concept to consumer.

As students filter into Julie Campbell’s Tuesday morning lab, they are greeted by bins of sharp tools lining cold, stainless steel tables. It’s dissection day, but not the kind you may expect. This is “Floral Design and Management,” or HORT 3030, and today’s lesson is the anatomy of a flower. Students pass pale pink carnations and delicate yellow-and-orange Alstroemeria around the room as Campbell, assistant professor in the University of Georgia Department of Horticulture, begins a lecture on plant morphology.

From beetles to butterflies, pollinators are a beautiful and integral part of nature. However, these tiny creatures may be more economically important to agricultural and ecological systems than previously thought. In a recent project by the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development at the University of Georgia, economist Sharon Kane and plant protection expert Becky Griffin have put together a powerful map displaying the economic importance of pollinators across Georgia.