This Week

This Week


Warnell Graduate Student Symposium 2019 (February 6-8)

Keynote presentation (Dr. Douglass F Jacobs) and Poster session on Wednesday

Oral presentations on Thursday and Friday

Bake sale and Silent auction on Thursday and Friday

Award ceremony and finale on Friday

It would be a great help to have baked treat from you. Click: Here

Isn't this amazing!!
Come, listen, bid, and enjoy baked goods

WGSS Silent Auction Donors

Warnell Graduate Student Association is very grateful to all donors who provided amazing things for silent auction that is going to take place on 7th and 8th February during the Warnell Graduate Student Symposium 2019.

Abstract Submission for WGSS 2019

This year we will have oral presentation (15 mins), speed talk (5 mins), and poster presentation.

Please submit your abstract by 7th January 2019. 

Abstract submission form here.

WGSA Welcome Back Social

WGSA is going to have a welcome back social at Southern Brewing Company on January 11th starting at 6 pm

Come help us kick off the spring semester

Beer will be provided

Last Warnell Seminar of this Semester: November 15

This week Dr. Wylie Carr, a social scientist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Atlanta, will be talking on "Social science within the US Fish and Wildlife Service: an experiment in working with introverts."  

Dr. Carr’s job as the new Region 4 social scientist is to help understand and address the human side of the Service’s work. He’ll be involved in big picture efforts like the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS), as well as more local efforts like examining public preferences for species or refuge management.

Seminar is in forestry room 1-304

Starts at 3:30 pm with snacks at 3:15 pm

All are invited

Coffee Hour Before Break

Stop by the lobby in building 4 because the craft sale has begun. All crafts can be purchased via cash, check, card, or venmo. Come see the crafts before they are gone!  

Warnell Seminar November 8

This week Dr. Mark Ruder will be talking about "Hemorrhagic disease of deer: what have we learned?" 

Dr. Ruder is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study where he helps coordinate various wildlife health-related service and research activities that are central to the cooperative structure of SCWDS. Dr. Ruder's research focuses on multiple aspects of hemorrhagic disease of deer and other vector-borne diseases of wildlife.   

Seminar is in forestry room 1-304
Starts at 3:30 pm with snacks at 3:15 pm


All are invited



Warnell Seminar October 18

Speaker: Dr. Chris McClure of the Peregrine Fund
Dr. McClure will be talking about "State of the world’s raptors: distributions, threats, and conservation recommendations"

Seminar is in forestry room 1-304
Starts at 3:30 pm with snacks at 3:15 pm

All are invited


WGSA Pro-Caffination Hour

Every Friday WGSA organizes pro-caffination hour in Warnell room: 4-301 from 9:30 am to 10:30 am

This Friday Dr. Kris Irwin from Warnell school will be discussing about education outreach

Enjoy coffee, snacks, and the presentation

This Week

THIS WEEK:

Tuesday 11/1
4:00pm ECOLOGY SEMINAR: Diversity and Function of the Gut Microbiota in Mosquitoes by Dr. Mike Strand in the Ecology Auditorium

Wednesday 11/2
9:00am Pro-caffeination Hour: Using Social Media to Communicate Research and Network Professionally by Dr. Suzanne Birch (@suzie_birch) in 4-132 [for those of you who cannot make it; we will be livestreaming via https://zoom.us/j/789833425 and will have a recording available afterward as well]
1:25pm CONSERVATION SEMINAR: Overexploitation of fruit-eating fishes disrupts seed dispersal
in vast Neotropical wetlands by Dr. Jill Anderson in the Ecology Auditorium

Thursday 11/3
4:00pm Warnell Seminar: Sucrose transporters: Orchestrators of carbon use for chemical defense and organ growth in Populus by Dr. Scott Harding in 1-304

Friday 11/4
4:00pm EDGE Seminar Series - Sara Heisel in 117 Ecology Seminar Room

Sunday 11/6
2:00am Daylight savings time ends; set your clocks BACK one hour on Saturday to avoid confusion

This Week

This Week:

Tuesday 10/11
4:00pm Ecology Seminar: One and the same? Intra-specific variability drives large-scale phytoplankton population dynamics by Dr. Elizabeth Harvey in the Ecology Auditorium
5:30pm NRRT Scoiety Welcomes Dr. Woosnam with dinner at Ted's Most Best (dinner on NRRT society if you've paid your dues, but everyone welcome).

Wednesday 10/12
9:00am Pro-caffeination Hour: Dr. Mark McConnell discusses Private Landowners and Conservation in 4-132
1:25pm Conservation Seminar: Pollinator stressors: What’s really at stake? by Dr. Keith Delaplane in the Ecology Auditorium

Thursday 10/13
3:30pm Graduate Portfolio in Community Engagement Information Session in the Fanning Training Room, JW Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, 1240 S. Lumpkin St. (Register at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F2016SLWorkshops)
4:00pm Warnell Seminar: Dr. Jamie Roberts; topic TBA, in 4-301

Saturday 10/15
8:45am Tree Planting Volunteer Opportunity (see more information in announcements below) at Blue Heron Nature Preserve

Other Announcements/Upcoming Events
Tree Planting Volunteer Opportunity October 15:
On October 15, we will be planting trees at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve as part of a city-wide effort to care for local trees.Only twenty minutes away from downtown Atlanta, the Blue Heron Nature Preserve boasts almost 30 acres of preserved and restored wetlands. This greenspace provides essential habitats for local biodiversity while also cleaning polluted stormwater before it enters our local creeks and streams.  Because of the abundance of food and shelter this wetland provides, guests are likely to see a variety of beavers, birds and butterflies.Help us care for this local treasure by coming out to plant trees at the Preserve. Volunteers should wear waterproof closed-toed shoes or boots, clothes that can get dirty, sunscreen and bug spray as needed.  We’ll be working in muddy areas, so please wear old/outdoor work clothes. Meet at the community garden at 8:45 for a lesson on tree planting and basic tree care. We will finish at noon. This event is being hosted in partnership with Trees Atlanta as a part of a larger event called Plantlanta, that includes planting in all 12 Atlanta city council districts in one day! Also the Preserve’s Open House, volunteers will get a chance to learn more about important efforts, such as how they are working to increasing native tree species diversity and replacing some recently lost trees.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Age Restrictions: 16 and up (under 18 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian)
Supplies Needed: Water, long sleeve work shirt, long pants, closed shoes (clothes you don’t mind getting wet)
Restrooms: There are no restrooms readily available at this clean-up.
BYO picnic, gloves, water.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities contact tncgeorgia@tnc.org or call 404-253-7255.

This week:

Monday 10/3

Reminder: send an email to Tara (taragc@uga.edu) to let her know if you're interested in participating in a potluck and poster session as part of International Education Week

Tuesday 10/4

4:00pm ECOLOGY SEMINAR: Climate change, fluctuating selection and eco-evolutionary dynamics by Dr. Carlos Botero from Washington University in the Ecology Auditorium

7:00pm Johnstone Lecture by Dr. Mark Risse at the State Botanical Garden. Free but reservations required (706-542-6156).

Mark Risse, who holds the Georgia Power Professor of Water Policy at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute, will speak about his experience studying groundwater and sea level rise throughout Georgia, as well as his work with students, government officials, farmers and fishermen about water resource management and the opportunities that sustainable growth presents.

Wednesday 10/5

9:00am Pro-caffeination Hour in 4-132; topic potentially TBA, or simply social gathering.

1:25pm CONSERVATION SEMINAR: Oceans in Peril: From oil spills to overfishing to climate change by Dr. Samantha "Mandy" Joye in the Ecology Auditorium

Thursday 10/6

12:00pm FOOD, AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CAREER & INTERNSHIP FAIR in the Tate Student Center Grand Hall. 

4:00pm Warnell Seminar: speaker and topic TBA in 1-304.

Other announcements / Upcoming Events of Interest:

Sustainability + Arts Grant

Pre-proposal deadline (optional): October 14, 2016Final proposal deadline: November 14, 2016http://sustainability.uga.edu/get-involved/students/sustainability_grants/ICE and the Office of Sustainability invite you to apply for a Sustainability + Arts grant in conjunction with the 2016-2017 UGA Campus Sustainability Grants program. Special consideration will be given to projects incorporating sustainability + arts.Drawn from the Student Green Fee, grants up to $5,000 are available to current UGA students who wish to initiate projects to advance sustainability through education, research, service, and campus operations. Successful projects will address priorities outlined in UGA’s 2020 Strategic Plan to actively conserve resources, educate the campus community, influence positive action for people and the environment, and provide useful research data to inform future campus sustainability efforts. Interdisciplinary projects designed to inspire, beautify and uplift—as well as to inform and conserve—are encouraged. Grants are awarded based on merit, positive impact, implementation feasibility, and available funding.The Office of Sustainability coordinates, communicates, and advances sustainability initiatives at UGA in the areas of teaching, research, service and outreach, student engagement, and campus operations. For more information visit sustainability.uga.edu.

The Nature Conservancy and Trees Atlanta Tree Planting Event on 10/15 (details below):

On October 15, we will be planting trees at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve as part of a city-wide effort to care for local trees. Only twenty minutes away from downtown Atlanta, the Blue Heron Nature Preserve boasts almost 30 acres of preserved and restored wetlands. This greenspace provides essential habitats for local biodiversity while also cleaning polluted stormwater before it enters our local creeks and streams.  Because of the abundance of food and shelter this wetland provides, guests are likely to see a variety of beavers, birds and butterflies. Help us care for this local treasure by coming out to plant trees at the Preserve. Volunteers should wear waterproof closed-toed shoes or boots, clothes that can get dirty, sunscreen and bug spray as needed.  We’ll be working in muddy areas, so please wear old/outdoor work clothes. Meet at the community garden at 8:45 for a lesson on tree planting and basic tree care. We will finish at noon. This event is being hosted in partnership with Trees Atlanta as a part of a larger event called Plantlanta, that includes planting in all 12 Atlanta city council districts in one day! Also the Preserve’s Open House, volunteers will get a chance to learn more about important efforts, such as how they are working to increasing native tree species diversity and replacing some recently lost trees.Difficulty Level: ModerateAge Restrictions: 16 and up (under 18 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian)Supplies Needed: Water, long sleeve work shirt, long pants, closed shoes (clothes you don’t mind getting wet)Restrooms: There are no restrooms readily available at this clean-up. BYO picnic, gloves, water.To learn more about volunteer opportunities contact tncgeorgia@tnc.org or call 404-253-7255.

 Reminder: please email me (hmwritger@uga.edu) with any announcements you'd like included in the bulletin.

This week:

Monday 9/19

4:30pm Careers in Life Sciences Networking and Panel Event at UGA Riverbend South Research Laboratories (register and details HERE). 

Tuesday 9/20

4:00pm ECOLOGY SEMINAR: River food webs: An integrative approach to bottom-up flow webs, top-down impact webs, and trophic position by Dr. Art. Benke in the Ecology Auditorium

6:00pm Forestry Club meeting in 1-304 with Drax Biomass. Food provided.

Wednesday 9/21

9:00am Pro-caffeination hour: “Lightning Round” student collaboration ideas in 4-132

12:30pm Women in Science (WiSci) “Brown Bag” lunch discussion in 4-132

1:25pm CONSERVATION SEMINAR: Conservation science and opportunities in the U.S. Geological Survey by Dr. Mary Freeman in the Ecology Auditorium

4:00pm River Basin Center Third Wednesday Symposium. The River Basin Center is located at 203 D.W. Brooks Drive between the School of Ecology and Hardman Hall. 

4:00pm Leveraging genomics to improve staple crops by Jason Wallace. S175 Coverdell Building

6:30pm Forestry Club meeting in 1-304 with American Forest Management . Pizza provided.

Thursday 9/22

4:00pm Warnell Seminar: The Australian invasion: eucalypt pests and their biological control by Dr. Simon Lawson, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia; refreshments at 3:30, in 1-304

6:30pm GPSA General Body Meeting; location TBD

Friday 9/23

4:00pm Butterflies, Corals, and the Future of Humankind: A Last Lecture by Dr. James Porter. University of Georgia Chapel. Reception: 5:00 pm- 6:00 pm. UGA Administration Building

Lightning Round

This week's Procaffeination Hour is titled, "Lightning Round," where students can chat, share ideas, and reach out to potential collaborators. We will be meeting on Wednesday, Septemeber 21st from 9:00-10:00am in room 4-132, refreshments provided.

This is a great opportunity to start collaborating with your fellow Warnell graduate students. We'll give you 3-5 minutes to introduce an idea you have for a project and pitch it to fellow students. These ideas can be for side-projects that involve research outside of your thesis or dissertation or for community or campus engagement/improvement projects.

A few examples:

• I really want to understand bark beetle population dynamics, but in terms of being able to use any of the existing models, I lack expertise and a lot of basic data on bark beetles has yet to be collected. So, next week I'll give a little more elaborate pitch to try to recruit some students who might be interested in writing a grant (bark beetle sampling is expensive) and working on a project together. 
• Students from my Master's institution got a grant funded to install rain gardens on campus to improve stormwater management with green infrastructure. 

One of the best things about Warnell is its people (and a lot of them are grad students), so take advantage of your time here and build working relationships that can continue through your career. 

Resource Selection Functions (part deux)

How do you evaluate habitat selection using resource selection functions (RSFs)? Wouldn’t it be great to have a step-by-step guide on how to create RSFs? If these are common thoughts then we invite you to attend next Friday’s Procaffeination Hour (April 15th) at 10:30 a.m. Drs. Joey Hinton and Andy Little will be giving a workshop on the “how-tos” of RSFs. Specifically, they will walk attendees through use vs. availability RSF analyses from the initial stage (raw spatial data in Excel) to developing predictive RSF surfaces. They will provide R code to assist with the step-by-step process to make it easier for you to follow even after the workshop is over. We look forward to seeing everyone next Friday!

Room: Dean's Conference Room from 10:30-11:30
Coffee and donuts will be provided.

Automating ArcGIS To Do Things Automatically

This week's Procaffeination Hour will be led by Tripp Lowe, discussing Automating ArcGIS To Do Things Automatically. We will be meeting in our new time slot on Friday, March 25th from 10:30-11:30 in room 4-301. Coffee and donuts will be provided. Please find a description of this workshop below. 

I'm sure y'all have GIS-related questions that relate to your research.  I would like to field questions first.  If you have any 'How do I do this?', or 'Is there an easy way to do that?', or 'My prof wants me to do <fill in the blank> and I have no idea of where/how to start.  Do you have any suggestions?' type questions, please feel free to ask – I'm sure you are not the only one struggling through that process.  I will try to work those questions into my presentation.

After a hopefully riveting discussion about your GIS tribulations, I would like to present several examples I've encountered where I used Python to automate repetitive tasks within the ArcGIS software, and if time permits, within a Python/GDAL environment.

Collecting Field Data on Mobile Devices

Please join us for this week's Procaffeination Hour for a discussion on collecting field data using mobile devices, led by Tom Prebyl. This will be our last Wednesday workshop - meeting Wednesday 3/16 from 10-11 in room 4-132.

With field seasons approaching for many of us I wanted to do a quick workshop to cover some mobile apps that can make recording field observations more efficient, reliable, and save you from hours of data entry.  I’m going to focus on Collector for ArcGIS and cover the steps needed to prepare it for use in the field without a data connection.  If you want to follow along in ArcGIS and on your preferred android or iOS device feel free to bring them.  For full use of the Collector app you will have to request a UGA ArcGIS online account; contact Geoffrey Garland ggarland@itos.uga.edu for more details on that.

Workshop Materials and Links to ArcGIS Collector