News Stories - Page 215

News from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

David Weber and Jillian Norrie, environmental educators at Burton 4-H Center, carry a sea turtle back to the ocean as a host of local Tybee Island residents and tourists look on. The turtle, named Zoe by the center's staff, quickly swam out of sight. CAES News
Turtle Release
Zoe, a loggerhead sea turtle that lived at the Burton 4-H Center on Tybee Island, Georgia, for the past five years, was released on the island Saturday, Sept. 30. A large crowd of local residents and tourists gathered with cameras ready as Zoe was lowered into the water just south of the pier on Tybee Beach, where the sea turtle hatched.
The Southeast Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata (SPARC), as the consortium is known, will identify and develop varieties of carinata that will thrive in the Southeast. SPARC will work to develop every step of the supply chain necessary to produce carinata-based jet fuel for civil and military aviation, industrial chemicals and animal feed. CAES News
New Biofuels
Researchers have produced biofuels from corn, switchgrass and even algae, but researchers at the University of Georgia will soon study a new source of renewable biofuels: the lesser-known crop of carinata, also known as “Ethiopian mustard.”
Lavendar Harris, 16-year-old Georgia 4-H'er and a volunteer at Bear Hollow Zoo in Athens-Clarke County, compiled a coloring book to serve as a fundraiser for the zoo. Harris is a home-schooled student and Newton County, Georgia, 4-H Club member. The coloring book is the keystone of her Georgia 4-H Leadership in Action project. CAES News
Working for Wildlife
What has 16 paws, eight hooves and three beaks? The answer can be found at Athens, Georgia’s Bear Hollow Zoo, and it’s not a fantastic beast. It’s a coloring book featuring some of the zoo’s most notable residents.
Alyssa Beckstead, second row,  far left, with international friends on a hike to Lichtenstein Castle. CAES News
Semester Exchange
A semester abroad program didn’t seem likely for Alyssa Beckstead. As a University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences biological science major with a goal of graduating in three years, Beckstead thought it would be impossible to find courses at an international university that applied to her major and allowed her to stay on track for graduation.  
This spring, Samaria Aluko became the first recipient of the college's Broder-Ackermann Global Citizen Award. CAES Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Josef Broder and his seven siblings endowed the annual $1,000 award in spring 2017 in honor of their parents, Hans Broder and Margrit Ackermann. CAES News
Global Citizen
In high school, Samaria Aluko — currently a senior studying biological science — was a sprinter, a passionate, intense, focused runner who could run the 200-meter in under 27 seconds. She doesn’t run anymore, but she channels that intensity and drive into improving and saving lives and maintains her laser-like focus on radical compassion. 
A peach tree touches the ground after tropical storm winds blew through the University of Georgia's research peach orchard on the Dempsey Farm in Griffin, Georgia. CAES News
Leaning Trees
Farmers aren’t the only ones busy working in their fields to repair damage from Tropical Storm Irma. As the University of Georgia’s peach specialist based on the UGA Griffin campus, my team and I have been busy trying to save young trees in our 3-year-old research orchard. Irma passed through Georgia with strong, sustained winds.
UGA CAES Alumni Association 2017 award winners D.J. Shepherd, Jimmy Hill, Trey Cutts, Tracy Troutman, Farrah Hegwood Newberry, Matt Coley and Keith Kelly celebrated at the CAES Alumni Association banquet. CAES News
Alumni Awards
Farmers, advocates, entrepreneurs and educators topped this year’s list of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Association’s best and brightest alumni.
U.S. currency and credit cards. CAES News
Credit Freeze
The recent data breach at Equifax compromised the personal information of millions of consumers. Whether your information was compromised or not as part of this data breach, a credit freeze may be a good idea. You have to obtain a freeze from each of the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
New UGA Extension water educators John Loughridge (left) and Luke Crosson (right) collect center pivot information from a landowner, David Burk (middle). CAES News
Water Educators
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension recently welcomed eight water educators to the organization. Formerly part of the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission, the positions were transferred to UGA Extension by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.
Graffiti Red Lace and HoneyCluster White pentas look colorful and festive at Old Town in Columbus, GA. CAES News
Butterflies and Pentas
Right now, it seems like it’s a banner year for butterflies everywhere I travel in the South. While the big monarch butterfly migration hasn’t hit, the populations of others seem to be high. I’m not sure if there is a correlation, but it also seems as if pentas are having the most incredible year ever.