Global research collaboration grants

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The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences' Benjamin Ehlers, an associate professor of history, and doctoral candidate David Thomson are collaborating with Stephen Kenny and Nicholas Fuqua at the University of Liverpool, England, to ­create a database and web portal for researchers and students to access data on pre-Civil War, trans-Atlantic shipping voyages. Researchers are developing the website that houses the data. They will recruit researchers from Cuba, one of Savannah's key trading partners in the antebellum era. The project is co-funded by UGA's Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the history department.

Ellen Neidle, a professor of biology in the Franklin College, and Melissa Tumen-Velasquez, a postdoctoral fellow in Neidle's laboratory, are collaborating with John McGeehan at the University of Portsmouth in England. They will modify enzymes to increase the breakdown of compounds derived from an abundant plant material, lignin, into useful chemicals and biofuels. Their initial research will demonstrate the feasibility of their approach; their goal is to develop a better, sustainable method for producing biofuels. This project was co-funded by UGA's Franklin College and the microbiology department.

Chad Howe, an associate professor in the Romance languages department in UGA's Franklin College, is collaborating with Dr. Daron Ferris of Augusta University and language consultant Elisabeth Mamani on a project involving cervical cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer death among women in Cusco, Peru. CerviCusco was founded by Ferris in 2008 to screen local women for the disease. While the program has been effective, language and literacy barriers exist as both Spanish and a local language are spoken in the area. 

Congratulations to these research teams, OIE and OVPR for their commitment to international collaborations that affect people and planet. There are perhaps no better examples for our students than our faculty and administration showing what dedicated engagement means.

Image: GA student Jordan Lowery (right) checks the blood pressure of a woman visiting a community mobile clinic for nutrition and health screenings in Takoaradi, Ghana. Photo by Alex Anderson