Eagle Eye with Dr. Weindorf

October has been a month of both challenge and resilience. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, our community came together, demonstrating the strength and spirit that define Eagle Nation.

I want to personally thank our essential workers and volunteers who put service before self to support our region in a time of need. At Georgia Southern, we’ve shown that our commitment to research and innovation is unwavering, even in the face of adversity. Our research enterprise remains robust, driven by collaboration and the dedication of our faculty, students, and staff.

I am thrilled to report that we’ve secured significant grants from leading federal and nonprofit agencies, furthering our efforts to address critical issues and contribute to meaningful advancements.

In keeping with our mission to foster impactful, community-driven research, I’m excited to announce the upcoming Community Engaged Research Conference on November 20th, hosted at our Armstrong campus.

This conference, organized in partnership with the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), will be a platform for our premed students, faculty, and staff to engage with colleagues from the Augusta campus.

We’ll also dedicate part of the day to research presentations by students and faculty from both institutions, highlighting collaborative projects that address regional and global challenges.

I look forward to seeing the innovative work that will be shared and celebrating the research partnership that will soon expand with the opening of MCG’s Savannah campus.

In recent weeks, we have faced great challenges, but we’ve also achieved remarkable successes. I could not be prouder of the resolve and ingenuity demonstrated by our research community.

As we continue to advance our work, let us keep embracing the values of collaboration, integrity, and openness that fuel our research endeavors and make our contributions impactful, even in the most demanding times.

Thank you for all you do to make Georgia Southern a leader in research, discovery, and community impact. Remember, only the curious have something to find!

Soaring Together

Dr. Lucas Jensen Named as Co-P.I. on National Science Foundation Grant

The Office of Research is excited to congratulate and support Dr. Lucas Jensen (College of Education) On his latest research endeavor as co-PI on a grant from the National Science Foundation! (NSF)

This $1.6 million grant will allow Dr. Jensen, along with colleagues from the University of Georgia, the University of Missouri, and the University of Nebraska-Omaha, to conduct innovative research with the aim of teaching computational thinking skills to students with learning disabilities, who are traditionally underserved in STEM fields.

Georgia Southern Researchers Break New Ground in the Fight Against Pesticide Exposure

Our office is thrilled to highlight a new joint research effort led by faculty from the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health And the College of Science and Mathematics!

Principal investigator Dr. Atin Adhikari (Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences), along with his co-PIs Dr. James Thomas (Health Policy and Community Health) and Dr. Ed Mondor (Biology), will conduct a proof-of-concept study to determine whether artificial intelligence can reduce pesticide exposure for farmers in Millen, Georgia.

Virtual Editor's Q+A for Handbook of Research on Science Learning Progressions

We are excited to highlight an upcoming Q&A session featuring our very own Dr. Hui Jin! (College of Education)

Dr. Jin was recently the lead editor of the Routledge, Taylor, and Francis publication Handbook of Research on Science Learning Progressions.

Published in July of this year, this handbook features internationally recognized experts in learning progression research. It offers a defining new resource for researchers, teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum and assessment developers in science education.

On October 15th, at 3:00 PM Eastern Time, the publisher will host a virtual Q+A. Dr. Jin, along with fellow editors Dr. Joseph Krajcik (Michigan State University) and Dr. Duanli Yan (Fordham University), will discuss each section of the book and answer questions on the topics discussed.

Community Engaged Research Conference with the Medical College of Georgia

We are also pleased to share an exciting opportunity for your faculty and students to participate in the Community Engaged Research Conference! (CERC)

Presented by MCG Savannah in partnership with Georgia Southern University. The conference will take place on November 20th, 2024, at the Armstrong Campus in Savannah.

This event provides a valuable platform for networking with community leaders, engaging with researchers, and discussing emerging health issues affecting Coastal Georgia.

Additionally, there is a call for submissions for oral presentations, poster presentations, panel discussions, and work-in-progress. The submission deadline is October 22nd, 2024.

Click here for more info + registration

Eagle Eloquence

Christina Olson is an Associate Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing at Georgia Southern.

She has authored several poetry books, including her most recent, The Anxiety Workbook which was a finalist for the Georgia Author of the Year Awards.

Her book The Last Mastodon, based on her time as poet-in-residence at the Western Science Center, won the 2019 Rattle Chapbook Prize.

Christina's work has also appeared in noteworthy publications such as: The Atlantic, and Scientific American. The poem featured here was published in The Nation in November of last year.

The Thing You Fear Is Not the Thing That Kills You

oh but you knew that already. The spider

in the garage is not the secret cigarette

in the garage, the beast in the dark ocean

is not the blood clot darkening a path

to your brain. Seventy-five percent of accidents

occur in the home—invisible puddle

outside the bath, loose handrail to the basement

that you always meant to tighten.

If we acknowledged these dangers every day,

we’d never leave our beds, except to avoid the clot.

But oh how we need to leave the bed,

except when we don’t. Oh how we need Saturdays,

the early autumn sunset on the drive home,

the clerk who beckons us to their line,

a necklace of green lights, the smiling doggo, even the stupid word doggo. These are the things

that kill us, disasters that break us open.

The birds screech and screech and finally we understand

that they too are merely startled by beauty.

Tiny dinosaur alarms, right outside your window.

All you had to do was pay attention.