September 2000: Vol. 79, No. 4September 2000: Vol. 79, No. 4Adams lobbies for University research
President Michael F. Adams was among a select delegation of presidents of major research universities who visited the White House on July 12 to lobby for increased federal investment in university-based research.
The 12 presidents represented such institutions as MIT, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Cornell, and UNC-Chapel Hill. Hosted by John Podesta, President Clinton's chief of staff, the meeting was part of Science Day 2000 activities organized by The Science Coalition.
|
 UGA's Michael F. Adams was part of a select group of 12 university presidents who visited the White House in July to lobby for increased federal investment in university-based research. Figures released by the provost's office show that UGA ranks fifth nationally in institutional support for R&D and ninth in state and local government R&D. |
The lobbying effort comes at a time when UGA has identified "research reinvestment" as a top priority of the institution's strategic plan for the next decade, and as a search is under way for a successor to long-time Vice President for Research Joe Key. In preparation for that search, Provost Karen Holbrook initiated a review of the Office of the Vice President for Research to "assess clearly where we are as an institution and how we might better position ourselves nationally."
The news is already good.
Figures released by the provost's office show that UGA ranks fifth nationally in institutional support for research and development and ninth in state and local government R&D expenditures. According to NSF data, only four other schools in the U.S. provide more institutional funding for research: UC-Davis, UC-Berkeley, the Texas A&M campuses, and UCLA.
UGA's national ranking for federally financed R&D expenditures dropped from 66th to 86th from 1988-98, as federal support at UGA remained flat through that period. But the preliminary figures for FY00, which ended June 30, show a positive shift in federal funding for UGA research, with a total of $73.7 million in federal awards (exclusive of agricultural experiment stations), up from $65.0 million in FY99.
"This 13.4 percent increase is our largest in a decade," says Holbrook.
In response to concerns raised by some faculty that the status of research as a priority at UGA has diminished, Holbrook points out that institutional funding for the Office of the Vice President for Research reached an all-time high of $16.7 million this year, an increase of 9 percent over the previous year. In May, Holbrook and Adams identified $4 million in additional funding for start-up costs for new research faculty as the University seeks to fill 26 open positions.
|
 EXERCISE PAIN SHOULDN'T DISRUPT YOUR SLEEP  A study co-authored by exercise science professor Patrick J. O'Connor and published in the spring 2000 issue of The Journal of Pain dispels the notion that exercise pain disturbs sleep. Assisted by Michael J. Breus (MS '96. PhD '98) and Stephen T. Ragan (BS '00), O'Connor studied nine young-adult men, who underwent two hours of strenuous exercise and then spent two nights in a sleep lab. The exercise resulted in moderate muscle pain, but the men took no longer to fall asleep, nor did they wake up more often in the night. "The findings imply that people suffering from exercise-induced muscle pain who are losing sleep should consider investigating other reasons why," says O'Connor. Ragan was a Phi Beta Kappa biology student at UGA. Breus, whose investigation was part of his Ph.D. dissertation, is now a psychologist with the Sleep Disorders Center at DeKalb Medical Center.
|
Two UGA ecologists have developed a rapid method that can reveal which rivers and streams face land-use pressures and are in urgent need of preservation efforts.
"This research could point to some practical changes in the way we predict and handle the impact of land use on streams, rivers and lakes," says Seth Wenger, a conservation ecologist and policy analyst at UGA's Institute of Ecology.
Ecologists Seth Wenger and Bud Freeman found that sampling the health of water-living animals in rivers and streams wasn't enough to predict overall health. Land-use criteria are also important.
"The stream systems in northwest Georgia contain our most imperiled fishes and mussels," says Byron "Bud" Freeman, a research ecologist and expert on Georgia's river systems. "Several of these counties are among the fastest-growing ones in the nation, thus the heat is on for these species and stream ecosystems."
Their research was presented at the annual Society for Conservation Biology meeting in June, and is sponsored by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The study area was the Etowah River system, a tributary to the Coosa River that lies on the fringe of Atlanta's urban sprawl in north central Georgia. While the sampling of water-living animals has been used extensively in the past to determine a stream's overall health, that alone is not enough to determine threats to a stream.
The researchers employed biotic criteria to come up with sub-basins and stream segments with high biological diversity, but they added geographic information systems coverage to rank streams in terms of pollution sources, road density, road crossings and dams.
"We found that these land-use criteria provided a rapid means of estimating the health of the fish community even when biological information was patchy," says Wenger.
The Etowah basin supports 76 native species of fish, including eight that may be considered imperiled and four that live only in this system. An additional 15 species once lived in the Etowah basin but can no longer be found there.
"The basin has suffered the effects of years of harmful agricultural practices, hydraulic gold mining, and hundreds of impoundments," says Freeman, "including a major dam that splits the Etowah river in two."
One practical result of the research could be a change in the way the Corps of Engineers identifies mitigation sites for development that impact the character of wetlands and streams. Under the Clean Water Act, a developer who affects the quality of such areas must find ways to offset the overall damage. Having a rapid method of finding the most sensitive streams could make the job easier and far more accurate.
CURO encourages undergrad research
A recent symposium sponsored by the Honors Program's Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) offered proof positive that it's never too early for students to begin doing research. CURO is based on the principle that research is the backbone of intellectual growth.
CURO fosters undergraduate research through various activities, including introductory seminars targeted at juniors who want to do research during their senior year.
 This painting—contributed by students Jared Smith and Ryan Miller, with guidance from art professor William Paul—was one of a series included in this year's undergraduate research symposium. |
|
"UGA students are the cream of the crop, and they bring a wealth of talents that we need to tap into," says sociology professor Dean Rojek, who participates in CURO. "I had a dream team—a super class of students to teach. They showed absolute enthusiasm and dedication towards this project."
Rojek's students conducted an intensive study of Athens, focusing on the city's housing, educational, recreation, leisure, and occupational aspects. The 25 students enrolled in the class were divided into five groups, each tackling one of the focus areas. Each week, one student from each group served as the research director.
"In most classes, you learn how to do something," says Kelly Fitzgerald. "This class is important because it was an opportunity to actually apply what we learned."
To learn more about this year's research symposium, visit the CURO Web site at http://www.uga.edu/honors/curo/.