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Read more about Regents’ Entrepreneur Valentine Nzengung on Page 4.
Read more about Inventor of the Year Qingguo (Jack) Huang on Page 4. Vol. 51, No. 31
HONORS&AWARDS April 1, 2024
news.uga.edu/columns
SEC Professor of the Year
The award is given annually to one SEC faculty member whose record of teaching and research places him or her among the elite in higher education. Winners are selected by the SEC provosts from among the 14 SEC Faculty Achievement Award recipients.
Jenna Jambeck, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia, has been named the 2024 SEC Professor of the Year for her work investigating the global scale of plastic pollution and galvanizing efforts to address solid waste and marine debris. Jambeck is a Regents’ Professor of Environmental Engineering in UGA’s
College of Engineering, founder of the Circularity Informatics Lab in UGA’s New Materials Institute and serves as a National Geographic Explorer. A renowned expert in her field, Jambeck has conducted public environmental diplomacy as an International Informational Speaker for the U.S. Department of State since 2017. Her work is supported by a diverse set of
entities, including the United Nations, the World Bank, U.S. government agencies, foundations (both U.S. and international), nongovernmental organizations and the private sector. Jambeck’s seminal 2015 study published in Science provided the first estimate of the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean each year: 8 million metric tons.
See JAMBECK on page 8
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Meigs Teaching Professors Six faculty members were named Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors. The professorship is the university’s highest recognition for instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Meigs Professors receive a permanent salary increase of $6,000 and a one-year discretionary fund of $1,000.
Chamberlain Smith
Chamberlain Smith
Peter Frey
Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor
Tina Carpenter
Professor Department of Language and Literacy Education Mary Frances Early College of Education
Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor began by exploring the possibilities of poetry and theatre in language education. Now, her research and scholarship have expanded to encompass and create multiple ways that educators can use the visual, performing and literary arts not only to improve educational practices but also to study, understand and change
EY Faculty Fellow and Professor Instructional Innovation Fellow J.M. Tull School of Accounting Terry College of Business
Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Innovative Science Education Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Tina Carpenter sparks students’ intellectual curiosity and challenges them to enhance their critical thinking skills, explore innovative solutions to problems and think outside of the box. “Dr. Carpenter expresses genuine care towards those around her and has a never-ending desire to better herself
See CAHNMANN-TAYLOR on page 8
See CARPENTER on page 8
Erin Dolan prioritizes students learning science by thinking scientifically, making scientific careers attainable via research mentoring and scaling access to research opportunities via course-based research. Dolan sits on the university’s Active Learning Advisory
Peter Frey
Andrew Davis Tucker
Keith Dougherty
Erin Dolan
See DOLAN on page 8
Andrew Davis Tucker
Leslie Gordon Simons
Julie Stanton
Professor Department of Political Science School of Public and International Affairs
Professor Department of Sociology Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor Department of Cellular Biology Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Keith Dougherty strives to continually motivate students, inspire them to work collectively, and get them excited about class. As an example, he allows students to work together on homeworks that he then reinforces by working through problems in class. He intentionally pairs students with a good
Leslie Gordon Simons takes a dynamic approach to teaching. Her goal is to guide her students through the learning process. In fact, she encourages her students to focus less on grades and more on learning. To do that, Simons seeks out innovative teaching strategies.
Julie Stanton learned so much from her own outstanding teachers, but perhaps the most important lesson was to be herself in the classroom. Stanton helps her students become better learners by fostering their love of learning. Her focus is on biology education research. She looks at how students plan,
See DOUGHERTY on page 8
See SIMONS on page 8
See STANTON on page 8