Georgia Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is recognizing College of Sciences faculty members for their excellence in teaching during the 2021-2022 school year.

41 College of Sciences faculty have won Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: CIOS Awards based on student evaluations during the annual Course Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS). Eight faculty are the recipients of CTL Faculty Teaching Awards.

The CIOS honors, given for the full calendar year, are based on student-provided CIOS responses about their instructor's “respect and concern for students, level of enthusiasm about teaching the course, and ability to stimulate interest in the subject matter.”

“It's impressive to see the many ways that faculty in the College of Sciences are contributing to student learning at Georgia Tech,” says Joyce Weinsheimer, CTL director. “The College’s award-winning teachers are excelling in the classroom, laboratory instruction, co-curricular education, online teaching, academic outreach, and the scholarship of teaching. They are providing exciting learning environments and experiences to students on our campus and beyond.”

College of Sciences recipients of the “2022 Faculty Teaching Awards” include:

CTL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award 

Neha Garg, assistant professor, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Faculty Award for Academic Outreach 

James R. Sowell, principal academic professional, School of Physics, and director of the Georgia Tech Observatory

Geoffrey G. Eichholz Faculty Teaching Award 

Michael Evans, First-year Chemistry Laboratory coordinator, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Christie N. Stewart, senior academic professional, School of Biological Sciences

Innovation and Excellence in Laboratory Instruction Award 

Christy O’Mahony, laboratory coordinator for Analytical and Physical Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Innovation in Co-Curricular Education 

Jake D. Soper, associate professor and associate chair for Operations, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award 

Emily G. Weigel, senior academic professional, School of Biological Sciences

Teaching Excellence Award for Online Teaching 

Michael Evans, First-year Chemistry Laboratory coordinator, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

College of Sciences faculty honored with “Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: CIOS Awards” include:

Small Classes:

Gary (Michael) Lavigne, visiting assistant professor, School of Mathematics; and assistant director of Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology

Dan Margalit, professor, School of Mathematics

Melinda (Mindy) Millard-Stafford, professor, School of Biological Sciences

Large Classes:

Meghan Babcock, academic professional and lecturer, School of Psychology

Dobromir (Doby) Rahnev, associate professor, School of Psychology

College of Sciences “Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: Honor Roll” Awardees:

Small Classes:

School of Biological Sciences Joel Kostka, professor and associate chair of Research; Lin Jiang, professor; Melinda (Mindy) Millard-Stafford, professor; Emily Weigel, senior academic professional

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences — Sven Simon, associate professor;  Samantha Wilson, academic professional; James Wray, associate professor

School of MathematicsNeha Gupta, academic professional and director of Scheduling; Gary (Michael) Lavigne, visiting assistant professor, School of Mathematics; and assistant director of Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology; Dan Margalit, professor; John Olinde, Ph.D. student

NeuroscienceTimothy Cope, professor

School of PsychologyLizanne DeStefano, professor and  Center for Education Integrating Science, Math, and Computing (CEISMC) executive director; Ruth Kanfer, professor; Dianne Leader, lecturer

Large Classes:

School of Biological SciencesAdam Decker, senior academic professional and director of Anatomical Sciences; Colin Harrison, senior academic professional; Emily Weigel, senior academic professional

School of Chemistry and BiochemistryAmit Reddi, associate professor; J. Cameron Tyson, principal academic professional and College of Sciences assistant dean for Academic Programs

School of Earth and Atmospheric SciencesHeather Chilton, remote laboratory support;  Zachary Handlos, academic professional

School of MathematicsNeha Gupta, academic professional and director of Scheduling; Sung Ha Kang, professor; Siddhi Krishna, former NSF Research Training Groups (RTG) postdoctoral associate; Miriam Kuzbary, NSF postdoctoral fellow; Gary (Michael) Lavigne, visiting assistant professor, School of Mathematics; and assistant director of Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology; Michael Loss, professor; Gregory Mayer, academic professional and director of Online Learning

NeuroscienceChristina Ragan, lecturer and director of Outreach for the B.S. in Neuroscience program; Alonzo Whyte, academic professional, advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, and director of Academic Advising for the B.S. in Neuroscience program

School of Psychology Meghan Babcock, academic professional;  Dianne Leader, lecturer; Dobromir (Doby) Rahnev, associate professor; Christopher Stanzione, senior lecturer, associate chair for Undergraduate Studies in Psychology; Christopher Weise, assistant professor 

Learn more about the Center for Teaching and Learning at Georgia Tech.

This story first appeared in the College of Engineering newsroom.

When Georgia Tech VentureLab program directors Melissa Heffner and Sara Martin Henderson noticed that a disproportionately low number of women were showing up to their entrepreneurial programs, they decided to address the issue with an experiment. The duo knew that students learned best when they felt represented by their instructors, leading them to create an entrepreneurial program geared specifically for women and led by female entrepreneurs and coaches.

The Female Founders program, a five-week cohort experience, debuted at Georgia Tech in the fall of 2020.

“We had a hunch that women in our programming wanted to be surrounded by other like-minded women and coached by female mentors with whom they could relate,” said Heffner. “After the first cohort, we heard that sentiment validated by many of our participants.”

The Program

Female Founders is open to startup teams that are founded or co-founded by women, with 25 chosen for each cohort. The program is open to Georgia Tech students, community teams, and researchers from other institutions in the United States.

The programming assesses the relative strengths of each of the participants and seeks to highlight their advantages as individuals and as part of a team. Cohort members work to cultivate those skills in an array of entrepreneurial environments. Teams also receive feedback on their work from mentors and peers within the program, while attending lectures on topics such as customer discovery and innovation.

Participants may attend the Female Founders Speaker Series each month, where Heffner and Henderson bring in successful women entrepreneurs and leaders, as well as program alumni, to speak about their areas of expertise.

Applications for the next cohort are due by April 7, with each team getting a boost from a successful female entrepreneur with Georgia Tech ties.

The Frank & Eileen Donation

This past fall, Heffner and Henderson were contacted by Audrey McLoghlin, a graduate of Georgia Tech's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and founder of luxury clothing company Frank & Eileen. After receiving B CORP certification in December 2020, McLoghlin’s company pledged to donate $10 million over 10 years to support the female leaders of tomorrow. 

After meeting with Heffner and Henderson, McLoghlin gave a $125,000 gift to the Female Founders program, with the funds directly intended to help female entrepreneurs.

"When COVID put us into quarantine I suddenly found myself with a very rare resource: time. With that extra time, we pursued B CORP certification," McLoghlin said. "Much to my surprise, we received the 2nd highest impact score among globally recognized fashion brands in the US, second only to Patagonia. This inspired me to make a Giving Pledge to support the female leaders of tomorrow."

McLoghlin's gift will allow each of the 25 teams in the next cohort to receive $5,000 to explore their customers’ needs, research the market for their product or service, or travel to meet with potential consumers.

“The donation from Frank & Eileen will change the way that we can engage with our upcoming cohort,” said Henderson. “We are still supporting them through education and community building within the program, but now we have a new opportunity to expand that support.”

In addition to the gift, VentureLab will host McLoghlin for its next Female Founders Speaker Series event on March 30.

"I became an entrepreneur when I was 25 and I had no idea what I was doing!" she said. "Without a mentor or a support network, I definitely learned things the hard way.We were over-the-moon to discover the incredible work that Melissa and Sara were doing by creating and launching the Female Founders Program. I am thrilled to have been able to partner with Georgia Tech and with the Female Founders Program to help support women in their entrepreneurial journey.”

Building From The Beginning

Since launching in 2020, Female Founders has become a larger success than either Heffner or Henderson anticipated. After completing the first cohort, 10 of the original teams joined Heffner and Henderson the next semester for a follow-on program to expand upon what they already learned. Throughout 2021, Heffner and Henderson hosted another two cohorts.

“We want to create a dedicated space in each cohort for women to discuss their experiences in the workplace and as female entrepreneurs, and that is what makes the Female Founders program so unique,” said Henderson. “Our goal is to talk about how each individual, regardless of gender, can navigate these male-dominated spaces with their natural strengths and skills, which is not something the participants would necessarily find in a co-ed program.”

Allyson McKinney, a Ph.D. student in the College of Engineering’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and member of the inaugural cohort, appreciates how the program deepened her understanding of customer discovery and the ways in which her specific technology fits into different markets.

“Female Founders introduced me to an entirely new way of thinking about tech,” said McKinney. “The mentors understand how to combine deep tech ideas with market need, and can then communicate that effectively to a customer. It’s an art, a science, and a business strategy.”

Mourin Jarin, a Ph.D. student in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering who joined McKinney in the first cohort, also highlighted customer discovery as one of the most important things she learned during her time with the program.

“The Female Founders program introduced me to mentors who have helped guide and introduce me to other programs and competitions, both inside Georgia Tech and external,” said Jarin. “I was chosen to participate in the NSF I-Corps program last fall on Melissa’s recommendation, and the women entrepreneurs and mentors I’ve met through the program serve as an invaluable network, providing feedback and support for the start-up efforts in my lab.”

Yana Bebieva, a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Science’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and a member of the fall 2021 group, says the program helped her to improve her active listening and technical communication skills.

“Through the program, I gained confidence with presenting my research, especially to customers and laypeople, and learned how to more effectively communicate a big-picture view of a problem,” said Bebieva.

LaVonda Brown, founder and CEO of EyeGage, earned her MBA from the Scheller College of Business in 2020 after receiving her master’s and Ph.D. from ECE. She participated in the first cohort, then stayed for the follow-up program in the spring. She said Female Founders helped her add various skill sets to her entrepreneurial toolbox, such as customer discovery and effective communication.

“The program gave us a safe space to discuss the biases that female founders face in male-dominated tech environments,” said Brown. “We were given time to talk about issues we were facing in our field, as well as learning healthy ways to respond when facing adversity.”

For Heffner and Henderson, the most rewarding part of building up the Female Founders program was the space they created for women to explore different options for their future.

“In our program, we have so many engineers, inventors, scientists, and leaders seeking the right pathway for their leadership skills,” said Henderson. “The program has given them the autonomy to take their intelligence and capabilities and just run with it to create and innovate.”

Learn more and apply by April 7, 2022.

The College of Sciences at Georgia Tech continues to make progress in the graduate school rankings published by U.S. News and World Report.

Released on March 29, the 2023 U.S. News Best Graduate School Rankings highlights all six College of Sciences schools as best overall science programs for graduate studies:

  • Biology – No. 37    

  • Chemistry – No. 21

  • Earth Sciences – No. 28

  • Mathematics – No. 21

  • Physics – No. 28

  • Psychology – No. 39

Biological Sciences rose 17 places (from No. 54) in a nine-way tie with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Dartmouth College, Indiana University-Bloomington, Ohio State University, University of Utah, and UT Health MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Chemistry and Biochemistry shifted from No. 20 in a four-way tie with Johns Hopkins University, University of California (UC)-San Diego, and Texas A&M University-College Station.

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences rose by 10 (from No. 38) in a tie with Ohio State University, University of Southern California, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Mathematics advanced by five, up from No. 26 in a tie with Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, UC-San Diego, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Physics maintains its No. 28 ranking in a tie with Brown University, Duke University, and Rice University.

Psychology rose six spots to No. 39 in a tie with Arizona State University, Michigan State University, Stony Brook University, University of Florida, University of Iowa, and University of Pittsburgh.

U.S. News previously ranked graduate science programs in their 2019 Best Graduate Schools Edition (published in March 2018) with the exception of Psychology, which is categorized under U.S. News “Social Sciences and Humanities” programs and was last ranked in the 2017 Edition.

Among specialty graduate programs, Analytical Chemistry and Condensed Matter (Physics) both rank in the top 20, while previously unranked Applied Math climbed into the top 16 to No. 11.

Mathematical Analysis and Topology tied for No. 18 and No. 15, respectively, and Tech remains top five in the nation for Discrete Math and Combinatorics. Uniquely organized across the Colleges of Sciences, Computing, and Engineering, the Institute’s Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization program previously held a rank of No. 2.

  • Analytical Chemistry – No. 17

  • Applied Math – No. 11

  • Condensed Matter – No. 18

  • Discrete Math and Combinatorics – No. 5

  • Mathematical Analysis – No. 18

  • Topology – No. 15

“I was very happy to see that several of our schools in the College of Sciences moved up in the rankings, in some cases quite significantly,” shares Matthew Baker, professor in the School of Mathematics and associate dean for Faculty Development in the College.

Fellow colleges on campus are also on the rise in the latest U.S. News “Best Graduate Schools” set, with Engineering remaining in the top ten in its overall disciplines, and Business, Computing, and Public Affairs also ranking among top programs in the nation. The full roster of current Georgia Institute of Technology rankings can be found here, along with U.S. News’ methodology for graduate rankings here.

The College of Sciences at Georgia Tech continues to make progress in the graduate school rankings published by U.S. News and World Report.

Released on March 29, the 2023 U.S. News Best Graduate School Rankings highlights all six College of Sciences schools as best overall science programs for graduate studies:

  • Biology – No. 37    

  • Chemistry – No. 21

  • Earth Sciences – No. 28

  • Mathematics – No. 21

  • Physics – No. 28

  • Psychology – No. 39

Biological Sciences rose 17 places (from No. 54) in a nine-way tie with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Dartmouth College, Indiana University-Bloomington, Ohio State University, University of Utah, and UT Health MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Chemistry and Biochemistry shifted from No. 20 in a four-way tie with Johns Hopkins University, University of California (UC)-San Diego, and Texas A&M University-College Station.

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences rose by 10 (from No. 38) in a tie with Ohio State University, University of Southern California, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Mathematics advanced by five, up from No. 26 in a tie with Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, UC-San Diego, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Physics maintains its No. 28 ranking in a tie with Brown University, Duke University, and Rice University.

Psychology rose six spots to No. 39 in a tie with Arizona State University, Michigan State University, Stony Brook University, University of Florida, University of Iowa, and University of Pittsburgh.

U.S. News previously ranked graduate science programs in their 2019 Best Graduate Schools Edition (published in March 2018) with the exception of Psychology, which is categorized under U.S. News “Social Sciences and Humanities” programs and was last ranked in the 2017 Edition.

Among specialty graduate programs, Analytical Chemistry and Condensed Matter (Physics) both rank in the top 20, while previously unranked Applied Math climbed into the top 16 to No. 11.

Mathematical Analysis and Topology tied for No. 18 and No. 15, respectively, and Tech remains top five in the nation for Discrete Math and Combinatorics. Uniquely organized across the Colleges of Sciences, Computing, and Engineering, the Institute’s Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization program previously held a rank of No. 2.

  • Analytical Chemistry – No. 17

  • Applied Math – No. 11

  • Condensed Matter – No. 18

  • Discrete Math and Combinatorics – No. 5

  • Mathematical Analysis – No. 18

  • Topology – No. 15

“I was very happy to see that several of our schools in the College of Sciences moved up in the rankings, in some cases quite significantly,” shares Matthew Baker, professor in the School of Mathematics and associate dean for Faculty Development in the College.

Fellow colleges on campus are also on the rise in the latest U.S. News “Best Graduate Schools” set, with Engineering remaining in the top ten in its overall disciplines, and Business, Computing, and Public Affairs also ranking among top programs in the nation. The full roster of current Georgia Institute of Technology rankings can be found here, along with U.S. News’ methodology for graduate rankings here.

Clint Penick, Ph.D.
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Kennesaw State University

Livestream via BlueJeans

ABSTRACT
Insects rank among the most biodiverse groups on Earth with nearly 1 million species described. Understanding patterns of insect diversity and the significant roles insects play in healthy ecosystems has been the primary focus of my lab. But insect diversity also has significance in the realm of human innovation through the field of bio-inspired design. Insects have long served as models for human inspiration drawing back to the days of the Roman empire when scholars first remarked on the material properties of insect-built honeycomb. Honeycomb has since found widespread application in engineering and architecture, particularly in the aerospace industry where maintaining high strength-to-weight ratios is essential. Here I will discuss ongoing work in my lab on features of honeycomb built by bees and wasps that can improve strength-to-weight ratios of manufactured comb. I will then discuss work on the evolution of ant cuticle textures as well as their potential function in abrasion resistance. Each of these projects highlights how comparative approaches in bio-inspired design can leverage insect diversity to solve human challenges and strengthen collaborations between biologists and engineers.  

SPEAKER BIO
Dr. Clint Penick is an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University whose research focuses on social insect ecology and evolution. In addition to studying how environmental change impacts insect biodiversity, he investigates what we can learn from insects through projects in bio-inspired design. His work in bio-inspired design has been supported through collaborations with engineers and industrial designers as well as funding from diverse sources that include NASA and Google. 

Host: David Hu, Ph.D.

Event Details

Thanks to better diagnostics, therapeutics, and care, the overall cancer mortality rate has plummeted in the past 20 years. But cancer survival disparities stubbornly persist along racial and ethnic lines, demanding a firmer grasp of the underlying mechanisms at play, which would ideally result in better outcomes for populations disproportionately burdened by the disease.

A group of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology is tackling this complex, multi-layered problem, and they describe their latest work in a recent edition of the journal Cancer Research. Their results blur the line between nature and nurture, providing a potential link between the genetic and environmental contributions to cancer health disparities.

“When you think about race and ethnicity, those are socially ascribed categories, based on cultural expectations and norms” said King Jordan, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and principal investigator of the study. The lead author was Kara Keun Lee, a graduate student advised by both Jordan and cancer researcher John McDonald, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and a co-author of the study.

So while they approached the work with the understanding that race and ethnicity are not genetic or biological categories, Jordan said the researchers also are aware that health outcomes are a combination of the genetic and biological, with the social and environmental. “And we’re very interested in that interplay,” Jordan said. “But this particular study is focused on the idea of using genetic ancestry as a means to drill down to the underlying molecular biology – the mechanisms that contribute to these survival disparities.”

Genetic ancestry, a characteristic of the genome, refers to genomic similarities based on shared ancestors, which can be defined objectively and with precision, “independent of the social dimensions of race and ethnicity,” Jordan added.

And it turns out, the mechanisms behind cancer survival disparities have plenty to do with the environmental impacts on gene expression, and not on ancestry-related differences.

The research was a collaboration of the Jordan and McDonald labs at Georgia Tech, blending the two labs’ experience in multi-omics biological analysis with Lee’s biostatistics skills, together with Dr. Leonardo Mariño-Ramírez, head of Genomic and Epidemiology Sciences at the NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, which helped fund the study.

Key Ingredient

The key to analyzing all of the multi-omics and cancer survival data was Lee. Though she’s pursuing her Ph.D. in the Georgia Tech Bioinformatics Graduate Program, Lee’s background as both a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an Emory University student, is in biostatistics.

While bioinformatics is generally concerned more with collecting and analyzing complex biological and genomics data, biostatistics is focused on broad, bigger-picture biological data to address public health issues. So, for example, when you read that cancer mortality rates have decreased 27%, that’s the work of a biostatistician.

“We would not have been able to do this study without Kara’s expertise in biostatistics,” Jordan said. “She brings experience as a statistical epidemiologist in health outcomes to our team. One of the really exciting things as a Ph.D. advisor is when you can get a student like Kara that can potentially change the direction of your lab.”

Lee previously led a study that utilized the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Genome Atlas to analyze 33 cancers and 9,818 patients. The team identified four cancer types with significant survival disparity.

“The survival disparities were more stark and more obvious when we looked at genetic ancestry as opposed to self-identified race and ethnicity,” said Lee, whose computational tools built a compelling body of evidence showing that nature might actually be nurture.

Nature as Nurture

The researchers’ findings point to epigenetic mechanisms – not genetics – as the primary culprit in cancer survival disparities. Epigenetic changes, which can alter the structure of DNA and affect how genes are expressed, can be heavily influenced by the environment around us or the food that we eat.

“The thing about epigenetic changes is that they can be inherited, passed down to future generations,” said McDonald. “That includes the propensity for cancer. But that’s the other thing about these epigenetic changes. They don’t unalterably change DNA structure. They’re reversible. It isn’t permanent.”

One of the most interesting discoveries of the study, the researchers agreed, was what they didn’t find – there were no ancestry-related differences in the DNA they analyzed that contributed to survival disparities. Rather, it was epigenetically induced changes in gene expression that were associated with differences in cancer survival between populations.

“That means the environment may actually change how genes are expressed,” said Jordan. “Following that epigenetic trail, or at least the logic of it, looking at how genes and the environment interact to shape health disparities will be a big focus of my lab going forward.”

 

CITATION: Kara K. Lee, Lavanya Rishishwar, Dongio Ban, Shashwat Nagar, Leonardo Marino-Ramírez, John F. McDonald, and I. King Jordan. “Association of Genetic Ancestry and Molecular Signatures with Cancer Survival Disparities: a Pan-Cancer Analysis.” (Cancer Research)

https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-2105

 

FUNDING: Lee, Rishishwar, and Nagar were supported by the IHRC-Georgia Tech Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory (Atlanta, GA; grant no. RF383). Marino-Ramírez was supported by the NIH Distinguished Scholars Program and the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Grant Nos. 1ZIAMD000016 and 1ZIAMD000018). Ban was supported by the Ovarian Cancer Institute. McDonald was supported by the Ovarian Cancer Institute, Deborah Nash Endowment, and Northside Hospital Research Foundation.

 

About Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.

RNA-mediated DNA Double-strand Break Repair in Human Cells
Youngkyu Jeon, Ph.D.
Storici Lab
School of Biological Sciences

Changes in Gene Coexpression Associated with Cancer Onset and Progression
Zainab Arshad
McDonald Lab
School of Biological Sciences

Event Details

Salt marshes cover much of the state of Georgia’s coast and perform key "ecosystem services” for people. They clean the water, protect coastlines against storm surges, and provide a habitat for fish and shellfish. A new study finds that a species of grass that dominates those marshes has bacteria in its roots and surrounding soil that affects productivity by providing nutrients, highlighting the importance of soil microorganisms in the entire ecosystem.

The study, “The core root microbiome of Spartina alterniflora is predominated by sulfur-oxidizing and sulfate-reducing bacteria in Georgia saltmarshes, USA” is published in Microbiome. The research team includes Georgia Tech Ph.D. students Jose Rolando (the study’s lead author) and Tianze Song; Max Kolton, a former postdoctoral researcher, now senior lecturer and principal investigator with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel; and corresponding author Joel Kostka, professor and associate chair for Research in the School of Biological Sciences with a joint appointment in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, who is also a member of Georgia Tech’s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection.

The study shows that diverse and abundant microbes associated with spartina cordgrass help mineralize sediment organic matter and release bioavailable nutrients to the plant, suggesting that the microbes help support plant productivity. 

The work could assist efforts to restore salt marshes that will help to strengthen the coastline to be more resilient in the face of sea level rise and climate change. 

Kostka says about 40% of salt marshes have disappeared in the U.S. over the past 100 years. “So coastal ecosystem restoration has become a huge field, with an important goal to manage or restore marshes so that they continue to provide critical ecosystem services to people,” he explains.

Kostka adds that certain bacteria benefit plants not only by removing potentially toxic sulfide from the root zone, but also by giving the plant nutrients and potentially carbon. “In other words, this is an example of how we think the classic lines might be blurred by what we generally think of as autotrophs (plants that grow via photosynthesis) and heterotrophs (microbes) in ecosystems.”

Sulfur in the roots 

The study was conducted at salt marshes near Sapelo and Skidaway Islands on the Georgia coast in 2018 and 2019. There, ocean water washes over the salt marsh grasses, and that water is rich in sulfate. “Sulfide is a phytotoxin or plant toxin,” Kostka says. “A lot of sulfide will kill plants or at least stress them out, but when you add just a little bit (to Spartina alterniflora), it fuels microbial factories in the plant roots.”

Kostka’s team found that Spartina alterniflora has concentrated sulfur bacteria in its roots, and those bacteria are in two categories: sulfur oxidizers, which use sulfide as an energy source — “then you have sulfate reducers which breathe or respire sulfate from seawater, producing sulfide.”

In this microbial cell factory, bacteria are using sulfide as an energy source to fix nitrogen — and possibly carbon — which then is passed to the grasses. Nitrogen fixation happens when a microbe takes nitrogen gas from air or water and makes usable ammonium out of it. In nature, soil microbes primarily perform this process — occasionally lightning in the atmosphere can also spark it.

The study’s findings suggest that fixation is happening via chemoautotrophy (using chemical reactions for energy) by bacteria living inside the plant roots. 

“The next chapter of this story is to learn how the plant and bacteria exchange nitrogen and the environmental controls of that exchange,” Kostka says. “We also know these bacteria can fix carbon, and could potentially be passing carbon to the plant. The plant may have a cell factory that’s making biomass from chemical energy rather than photosynthesis.”

Finding climate clues in plants

The new study’s research in salty wetlands is similar to climate-related work Kostka leads on peat mosses in freshwater bogs at the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) research facility in northern Minnesota. The facility is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A study Kostka and his team published in 2021 showed that warming peat bogs are releasing higher amounts of the greenhouse gas methane that is trapped inside them. Peatlands comprise just about 3% of the Earth’s landmass, but they store around one-third of the planet’s soil carbon. As they warm, bogs may also start releasing more carbon along with their methane into ecosystems, a harmful one-two punch for the environment.

The saltwater marshes that Kostka’s team studies have also been termed “blue carbon” sinks because they act to mitigate climate change by sequestering large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere on a global scale. “Salt marshes or coastal marshes are not only critical as habitat for fish and shellfish that we like to eat — along with other vegetated coastal ecosystems — they store as much or more carbon as the remainder of the seafloor,” Kostka says.

A triumph for omics, and what’s next 

Kostka credits ‘omics’, technologies which allow for the study of microbes in the environment without cultivation, for advances in uncovering microbiomes — all the microorganisms in a specific environment. Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, the sequencing of all genes or expressed genes in the environment, allows scientists to chart the potential for microbes to carry out important ecosystem functions like nitrogen fixation. This is critical since very few microbes out of the large diversity that is out there can be grown in the lab, Kostka explains.

“The work is another example of how we are uncovering plant microbiomes — the microbes that live inside or on the tissues of environmentally relevant plants that help the plants to grow better,” Kostka adds. “If we can add microbes to the roots when we plant them, and therefore increase the survival of those plants, we can improve restoration efforts.”

This work was supported in part by an institutional grant (NA18OAR4170084) to the Georgia Sea Grant College Program from the National Sea Grant Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce, and by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB 1754756).

Citation: Rolando, J.L., Kolton, M., Song, T. et al. The core root microbiome of Spartina alterniflora predominated by sulfur-oxidizing and sulfate-reducing bacteria in Georgia salt marshes, USA. Microbiome 10, 37 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01187-7

About Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.

 

From the science of crafting to a science improv show, Georgia Tech has partnered with the Atlanta Science Festival in filling the month of March with science outreach events since the annual festival was founded in 2014. And after receiving a seed grant from the Dana Foundation for the second year in a row, Christina Ragan is ready to partner with the festival to host her outreach “Super Bowl” — Brain Awareness Day. 

With a passion for inspiring others and making neuroscience more accessible, Ragan, a faculty member and lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences and the director of Outreach for the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience at Tech, is a leader in developing neuroscience-related outreach events.  

For the past two years, Ragan has been annually awarded a $1,500 seed grant from the Dana Foundation to design that kind of outreach in celebration of Brain Awareness Week, the Foundation’s global campaign dedicated to fostering curiosity and enthusiasm for brain science.  

Arriving at Georgia Tech in early 2021, Ragan organized a virtual Brain Awareness Day event for middle school students that welcomed over 100 attendees.  

Everyone is Welcome: Science & Engineering Day at GT 2022 

This spring’s programming, scheduled on campus for March 19 as part of Science & Engineering Day at GT, is set have an even bigger audience. (Organizers have confirmed that anyone who missed the RSVP period for this day-long celebration is still welcome to attend without registration, with limited courtesy parking available in the central lot shown here.) 

As the 2020 Carol Ann Paul Neuroscience Educator of the Year, Ragan’s dedication in the space has already made an impact on campus. This month, we spoke with Ragan to learn more about Brain Awareness Day and her approach to reaching community members beyond campus:  

Q: What is Brain Awareness Week, and why do you think it’s important? 

A: Brain Awareness Week, organized by the Dana Foundation, is a great way to share Neuroscience to the public in a way that is engaging, fun, and accessible to a broad audience.  We are celebrating Brain Awareness Week in three ways: 1. Our Brain Awareness Day event as part of the Atlanta Science Festival (March 19 from 10am-2pm in CULC 483 and 487), 2. Laboratory Tours for High Schoolers during the March 19 event, and 3. Visiting the Drew School on April 1. My organizing committee of Neuro undergraduates (Rommi Kashlan, Brenna Cheney, Claire Deng, and Payton McClarity-Jones) have been extremely helpful in planning these activities. 

I love that we get to involve our undergraduates for our outreach events, so they get to teach others all about the brain. I think it's important for the public to learn about the nervous system since it plays such a critical role in pretty much everything we do. Even when we are asleep or daydreaming, our brain is hard at work. 

Science doesn't need to be restricted to folks who have formal degrees. Every time a kid asks, "but why?" they are acting just like a scientist! 

Q: Seed grants are often given to help researchers or faculty begin to develop new projects or programs. What project or program do you hope to develop with this grant? 

A: I would love to get involved with folks involved in STEM education in the greater Atlanta area to assess the outcomes of events like these. Who are we reaching and who do we still need to increase our efforts to? How can we reach the most people? What kinds of events not only promote students to pursue STEM careers, but also encourage appreciation and literacy for science for those who aren't in STEM fields? I'd also like to form strong relationships with area schools so we can share our Neuroscience demonstrations with them, as well. 

This is the second year I have received this grant and I am so excited that we can use it to increase the number of resources we can use for Neuroscience outreach. It is a tremendous honor to be recognized for something I consider so rewarding. 

I would love it if attendees for our Atlanta Science Festival event walk away excited, inspired, and curious about Neuroscience. I hope that this year's attendees become regular attendees annually and spread the word to their friends. I would love for attendees to tell their parents and teachers about it so we can arrange more school visits, especially to schools who may not always get opportunities  

Q: Where does your passion for neuroscience outreach stem from?   

A: My mom introduced me to community outreach at a young age through various volunteering opportunities. She instilled an appreciation, rather than an obligation, for serving others and I have her to thank for promoting that. I always had fun volunteering, especially as a family, and never found it to be a chore. 

It wasn’t until graduate school when I became involved in Graduate Women in Science that I started doing STEM outreach. During my Postdoctoral Fellowship at Michigan State University, I was involved with the Neuroscience Fair and school visits for Brain Awareness Week. At Purdue University Northwest, I organized my very own Neuroscience Fair event that hosted 500 attendees. 

Q: What’s your favorite neuroscience outreach event or program that you’ve done? 

A: I call Brain Awareness Day (the event that will be part of Atlanta Science Festival this year) my “Super Bowl”.  I love seeing all the attendees engaged with the presenters and the look on their faces when they learn the neuroscience behind the activity. It's really funny when their minds are just blown away after the gears start turning and they figure something out. 

Q: Why do you think this kind of outreach is important? 

A: Neuroscience outreach is important, especially for middle school girls, because that is the time in their lives when they are unfortunately taught that being smart or liking science isn't for girls. I don't expect everyone who attends our outreach events to become scientists, but I do aim to encourage an appreciation for science and to think like scientists.  

We are truly in the Information Age, and it is our job as educators to help students learn how to evaluate all this information that is literally at their fingertips. 

Q: How do you envision outreach playing into the future of Georgia Tech’s Neuroscience program as it continues to develop? 

A: I think outreach can have a positive impact for our Tech students and for the community. I envision outreach being something that our program is known for to provide our students an opportunity to engage with the public in a way that is fun and an application of what they have learned in their classes. 

I think that what we offer students in the classroom is just a small portion of their education. I would love to foster relationships with other schools and youth organizations to make neuroscience accessible to all. 

From the science of crafting to a science improv show, Georgia Tech has partnered with the Atlanta Science Festival in filling the month of March with science outreach events since the annual festival was founded in 2014. And after receiving a seed grant from the Dana Foundation for the second year in a row, Christina Ragan is ready to partner with the festival to host her outreach “Super Bowl” — Brain Awareness Day. 

With a passion for inspiring others and making neuroscience more accessible, Ragan, a faculty member and lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences and the director of Outreach for the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience at Tech, is a leader in developing neuroscience-related outreach events.  

For the past two years, Ragan has been annually awarded a $1,500 seed grant from the Dana Foundation to design that kind of outreach in celebration of Brain Awareness Week, the Foundation’s global campaign dedicated to fostering curiosity and enthusiasm for brain science.  

Arriving at Georgia Tech in early 2021, Ragan organized a virtual Brain Awareness Day event for middle school students that welcomed over 100 attendees.  

Everyone is Welcome: Science & Engineering Day at GT 2022 

This spring’s programming, scheduled on campus for March 19 as part of Science & Engineering Day at GT, is set have an even bigger audience. (Organizers have confirmed that anyone who missed the RSVP period for this day-long celebration is still welcome to attend without registration, with limited courtesy parking available in the central lot shown here.) 

As the 2020 Carol Ann Paul Neuroscience Educator of the Year, Ragan’s dedication in the space has already made an impact on campus. This month, we spoke with Ragan to learn more about Brain Awareness Day and her approach to reaching community members beyond campus:  

Q: What is Brain Awareness Week, and why do you think it’s important? 

A: Brain Awareness Week, organized by the Dana Foundation, is a great way to share Neuroscience to the public in a way that is engaging, fun, and accessible to a broad audience.  We are celebrating Brain Awareness Week in three ways: 1. Our Brain Awareness Day event as part of the Atlanta Science Festival (March 19 from 10am-2pm in CULC 483 and 487), 2. Laboratory Tours for High Schoolers during the March 19 event, and 3. Visiting the Drew School on April 1. My organizing committee of Neuro undergraduates (Rommi Kashlan, Brenna Cheney, Claire Deng, and Payton McClarity-Jones) have been extremely helpful in planning these activities. 

I love that we get to involve our undergraduates for our outreach events, so they get to teach others all about the brain. I think it's important for the public to learn about the nervous system since it plays such a critical role in pretty much everything we do. Even when we are asleep or daydreaming, our brain is hard at work. 

Science doesn't need to be restricted to folks who have formal degrees. Every time a kid asks, "but why?" they are acting just like a scientist! 

Q: Seed grants are often given to help researchers or faculty begin to develop new projects or programs. What project or program do you hope to develop with this grant? 

A: I would love to get involved with folks involved in STEM education in the greater Atlanta area to assess the outcomes of events like these. Who are we reaching and who do we still need to increase our efforts to? How can we reach the most people? What kinds of events not only promote students to pursue STEM careers, but also encourage appreciation and literacy for science for those who aren't in STEM fields? I'd also like to form strong relationships with area schools so we can share our Neuroscience demonstrations with them, as well. 

This is the second year I have received this grant and I am so excited that we can use it to increase the number of resources we can use for Neuroscience outreach. It is a tremendous honor to be recognized for something I consider so rewarding. 

I would love it if attendees for our Atlanta Science Festival event walk away excited, inspired, and curious about Neuroscience. I hope that this year's attendees become regular attendees annually and spread the word to their friends. I would love for attendees to tell their parents and teachers about it so we can arrange more school visits, especially to schools who may not always get opportunities  

Q: Where does your passion for neuroscience outreach stem from?   

A: My mom introduced me to community outreach at a young age through various volunteering opportunities. She instilled an appreciation, rather than an obligation, for serving others and I have her to thank for promoting that. I always had fun volunteering, especially as a family, and never found it to be a chore. 

It wasn’t until graduate school when I became involved in Graduate Women in Science that I started doing STEM outreach. During my Postdoctoral Fellowship at Michigan State University, I was involved with the Neuroscience Fair and school visits for Brain Awareness Week. At Purdue University Northwest, I organized my very own Neuroscience Fair event that hosted 500 attendees. 

Q: What’s your favorite neuroscience outreach event or program that you’ve done? 

A: I call Brain Awareness Day (the event that will be part of Atlanta Science Festival this year) my “Super Bowl”.  I love seeing all the attendees engaged with the presenters and the look on their faces when they learn the neuroscience behind the activity. It's really funny when their minds are just blown away after the gears start turning and they figure something out. 

Q: Why do you think this kind of outreach is important? 

A: Neuroscience outreach is important, especially for middle school girls, because that is the time in their lives when they are unfortunately taught that being smart or liking science isn't for girls. I don't expect everyone who attends our outreach events to become scientists, but I do aim to encourage an appreciation for science and to think like scientists.  

We are truly in the Information Age, and it is our job as educators to help students learn how to evaluate all this information that is literally at their fingertips. 

Q: How do you envision outreach playing into the future of Georgia Tech’s Neuroscience program as it continues to develop? 

A: I think outreach can have a positive impact for our Tech students and for the community. I envision outreach being something that our program is known for to provide our students an opportunity to engage with the public in a way that is fun and an application of what they have learned in their classes. 

I think that what we offer students in the classroom is just a small portion of their education. I would love to foster relationships with other schools and youth organizations to make neuroscience accessible to all. 

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