Faculty in 91����’s College of Science and Mathematics (COSM) are leading the way in research to help Georgia’s coastal communities navigate growth for years to come.

COSM researchers have secured four Georgia Sea Grants for projects that address issues ranging from preserving local bee populations vital to coastal ecosystems to exploring/investigating the social and environmental impact of economic growth in coastal areas.

Research in Georgia’s “Bee City, USA”

Bees play a critical role in coastal ecosystems by pollinating native plants. Without them, the food web begins to collapse and species begin to disappear. 

Professor of Biology, Isaac Park, Ph.D., says bee populations on the islands off Georgia’s coast are facing increased threats from the growing human population. Land development clears out large areas of native plants and landscaping often involves planting new species that do not provide sufficient pollination benefits.

“Sea islands are particularly at risk, as many are highly developed and have species and ecosystems that are unique to them,” he explained.

Park selected Tybee Island, recently named a “Bee City” by the Xerces Society for local efforts to support bees, for an investigation into whether people can be part of the solution to declining bee populations. His project, “Protecting Barrier Island Pollinators from Effects of Development and Temperature Variability,” will involve recruiting Tybee residents to track when and where plants bloom across the island. The data can be combined with models of bee activity to give warnings when bees may be struggling to find plants for pollination.

Park says the project stems from research started by his master’s student Hannah Brown who assessed flower availability for native bees on undeveloped sea islands from Florida to Virginia.

“The next logical step seemed to be to assess the effects of development on food resources to bees,” said Park.

Park is now working with master’s student Rileigh Leach to expand the work in hopes the data can build a picture that will help locals protect bees and the plants that feed them.

“We want to offer concrete recommendations for managing landscaped vegetation and supporting native bees on Tybee Island and all along the Georgia Coast,” Park said.

Turning Statesboro’s vulnerability into resilience 

The population of Statesboro has grown by about 24% since 2010, bringing many challenges and opportunities to the area. Assistant Professor of Geography Helen Rosko, Ph.D., is working with the University’s Institute for Vibrant and Engaged Communities to give local leaders the data they need to make decisions that address the hidden obstacles citizens face from that growth.

Rosko says she understands the challenges firsthand.

“Shortly after my family moved into city limits, we experienced three significant flooding events in three months,” said Rosko. “We could see it was tied to nearby development. As a homeowner, a mother and a researcher, that made it feel urgent.”

The project titled “Inland rural coastal resilience: Municipal planning for resilient communities and economies” involves collaborating with city engineers to map the areas of highest risk. There will also be a deeply engaged community element of town halls, interviews, surveys and community tabling to hear what the biggest challenges are in our community. 

“Everybody’s lived experience is a little different,” Rosko said. Until I actually chat with people and learn from them, my ideas about vulnerability are just my own understanding.”

Rosko said that kind of dialogue opens up a better understanding that cannot be gained from data and maps alone.

“Two people may live in the same flood zone but because of family issues or something like limited transportation, one of those people may be more socially vulnerable,” Rosko explained. “That kind of input gives our community and its decision-makers a much more robust understanding of who is vulnerable when, where and why.”

Rosko hopes to keep building solutions as the region continues to grow.

“For the average Statesboro citizen, I hope we see real change that reduces vulnerability and builds community,” she said. “Once we identify problem areas I hope we don’t just leave it there. We want to mobilize resources and change people’s lives.”

Investigating Georgia oyster industry’s positive impacts on the coast

As the commercial oyster farming industry expands in Georgia’s coastal waters, biology professors John Carroll, Ph.D. and Steve Vives, Ph.D. are leading research to determine if the farms provide benefits to the ecosystem. Existing research from the shores of other states indicates that oysters farmed on the coast can clean impurities from the water and provide habitat for native species. 

The industry has only existed in Georgia since 2019, so there is little information about how the unique tidal system of Georgia might affect how much benefit oyster farms provide.

“This creates a need for local data so managers can appropriately make culture lease decisions, growers can receive credit for the services they provide, and to reduce potential user conflicts between oyster growers and recreational anglers who share the same coastal waterways,” said Carroll.

Carroll says low visibility and choppy seas off Georgia’s coast make monitoring species diversity more difficult. To overcome these obstacles, the team will combine traditional techniques like nets, with newer sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) technology. Carroll explained the mixed-methods approach is important for the researchers and the fish.

“Traditional monitoring for coastal species involves some kind of capture with a net, trap or trawl that’s placed in the water and later resampled,” he said. “That gives you great results but it’s cost and labor intensive and can result in some incidental mortality. Unfortunately, SONAR doesn’t yet have the capability to identify species directly, so we’ll still need the nets, but our processes will be much more efficient and safe.”

Vives believes the research can benefit everyone who works and plays along Georgia’s shoreline.

“This work will be beneficial for the coastal communities in Georgia, from resource managers to oyster growers and recreational fishermen,” he explained.  “We plan on developing webinars for the public to highlight our research findings.”  

The project is titled “Examining the role of shellfish aquaculture gear as fish habitat” and is assisted by partners from the University of South Carolina and the University of Georgia Marine Extension.

Feeding the future of Georgia’s oyster farms

As oysters are harvested from farms on the shore, new oysters must be grown to replace them.

Associate Professor of Biology Anthony Siccardi, Ph.D., is leading the project “Optimization of algal turf scrubbers in recirculating systems for the production of oyster (Crassostrea virginica) hatchery seed” to discover new ways to grow young oysters that produce larger crops and reduce costs for farmers.

Commercial farms grow young oysters in tanks and then transfer them to farms on the shore to reach full size. The tanks require a delicate balancing act of feeding the young oysters enough, so they grow quickly without feeding them so much that they produce too much waste that poisons their own water.

“What the oyster hatchery in Georgia currently does is put larval oysters into an unfiltered tank,” Siccardi said. “It’s just larval oysters, and they have to be careful with the amount that they feed because they don’t want waste nutrients building up.”

Siccardi is collaborating with Director of the Institute for Water and Health, Asli Aslan, Ph.D., to explore how algal turf scrubbers (ATS) can be used to clean tank water and feed oysters at the same time. Built from plywood shaped into a slope and lined with a turf matrix, the system grows a diverse algal polyculture that absorbs the waste the young oysters produce. As the algae builds up, it can be harvested and a portion fed back to the oysters to reduce food costs.

To determine ATS’s viability, the team will test three oyster culture systems with algal turf scrubbers over several weeks at the University of Georgia’s Shellfish Research Laboratory on Skidaway Island. Three additional oyster culture systems will have no algal turf scrubbers and serve as a control group. The team will track whether the scrubbers improve water quality enough to let hatcheries feed larval oysters more without risking ammonia buildup. They also plan to test a reverse daylight cycle, using artificial lighting over the algal turf scrubber to help maintain dissolved oxygen levels overnight, when oxygen typically drops.

Siccardi hopes this research will positively impact oyster farming in coastal Georgia and the region’s economy as a whole.

“Oyster aquaculture in Georgia is rapidly growing, with the potential to provide numerous jobs and fresh seafood to the local area,” he said. “Our goal throughout this research has been to provide cost-effective, nature-based solutions to remediating water sources and feeding aquacultured organisms sustainably.”

When senior biology major John Petronis enters Jianzhou He, Ph.D.’s lab at 91����’s College of Science and Mathematics, he sets his bag down, puts on his headphones and gets to work analyzing water samples. 

“Most of what I research is focused on the communities we live in,” Petronis said. “So a lot of the samples I monitor come from Tybee Island and the Savannah River.”

Petronis uses a Shimadzu particle size analyzer to identify and analyze what He calls emerging contaminants, specifically microplastics.

“Globally, we produce hundreds of millions of metric tons of plastics every year, and only about 9% get recycled,” explained He. “Microplastics are less than five millimeters, but the impact they’re having on the world right now is immeasurable, and it’s growing by the day.”

As these materials break down, they enter local waterways, rivers, marshland and drinking water, said He. They can be toxic, harming marine wildlife, disrupting food chains and affecting the ecosystem they occupy, making them a major environmental concern.

“There are currently no regulations or standards that monitor the amount of microplastics in our environment,” He said. “So there’s no record of how they behave in a coastal area like ours.”

Studying these chemicals in a more diverse ecosystem helps Petronis and He develop a thorough assessment of the risks they pose and propose practical solutions to reduce their presence. They use advanced technology provided through the Shimadzu Partnership for Academics, Research, and Quality of Life (SPARQ) program to support their research. The SPARQ partnership gives students like Petronis a chance to work with the latest in industry-standard equipment.  

“This research wouldn’t be possible without the tools from Shimadzu,” said He. “My students could not complete their work otherwise.” 

Equipment like the particle size analyzer helps them identify these chemicals on a granular level. They also want to see how environmental (UV) exposure changes them over time, so Petronis uses the sunlight simulator machine to produce results in minutes instead of the 3,000 hours it would otherwise take. But Petronis, a full-time student with a full-time job, doesn’t mind putting in the time. 

“I want to have a deeper understanding of how we exist in our world,” he explained. “The environmental science aspect…I mean, that’s the equivalent to cleaning your room. I look at the Earth and think, ‘I want to clean this place up. I want to take care of what’s been given to us,’ and this research opportunity has done just that.”

Georgia Southern Department of Biology Professor Sara Gremillion, Ph.D., has taken on a cross-institutional, five-year National Institute of Health grant-funded project that aims to create a curriculum and shared knowledge pool for an underutilized, yet widely available organism: Fungi. 

Gremillion, who is also the Interim Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Student Success in the College of Science and Mathematics, explained, “I’m a mycologist, a biologist who studies molds, mildews, mushrooms and things like that. I am really interested in fungi that cause plant disease. I’m also interested in fungi that have medically important characteristics like the ability to produce antibiotics.”

The project, , led by Gremillion, is a culmination of mycological expertise from across the globe designed to increase biomedical knowledge through an accessible, collective database of fungal research. But the project isn’t just an encyclopedia of fungal research; it also centers around teaching strategies for educators who may not have intensive training in mycology.

Gremillion said, “There aren’t many people who study fungi, despite their importance in ecosystems, health and industry. So, our goal is to approach the microbiologist who may be studying bacteria, or the ecologists who may be studying plants in a specific ecosystem and pull them into the project. We’ll train them in a fungal-forward curriculum-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) to include in their courses.”

By training fellow scientists to implement a mycology-based curriculum, student and career researchers can work toward contributing fungal genetic information to a free, online database that can easily be accessed and used to further conversations surrounding biomedical potential for a wide variety of fungi, collected from nature by students. 

As a longtime professor of biology on the Armstrong Campus of Georgia Southern, Gremillion has long been a supporter of undergraduate research opportunities. For the principal investigator and adjoining investigators, the inclusion of non-graduate-level scholars also plays a major role in the project through the Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) curriculum. 

“When you’re majoring in STEM, your undergraduate laboratory experience is where the intense learning happens. It’s the hands-on activities that help you solidify those concepts. They help you learn how science is actually done. And so, to me, when I take on a research student, it’s just one-on-one teaching. Teaching a CURE is the next best thing; a classroom of students gets that research-intensive experience,” Gremillion stated.

Ultimately, the almost $1.6 million grant will allow educators and scholars to investigate fungi as an innovative resource for beneficial usage as well as potential health risks. Although fungi are widely overlooked despite their natural abundance, the Myco-Ed project will provide training and knowledge to better understand these widespread organisms. With a mycologically literate biomedical workforce, fungi can be studied and leveraged for a variety of uses in the prevention of disease and production of improved, fungal-derived medicines. 

For Gremillion and her collaborators, this project is the outcome of a long-held dedication to the far too understudied world of mycology, where fungi are no longer hiding beneath hidden surfaces or in the dark corners of a basement, but taking center stage in the world of biomedical discovery. 

“Fungi are so cool,” she said. “Don’t sleep on the fungi.”

91����’s College of Science and Mathematics (COSM) is teaming up with Shimadzu Scientific Instruments to host the second annual Forensic Science Symposium Sept. 30. This year’s event offers an expanded list of speakers, poster presentations and a panel discussion covering a broad range of topics.

“We have something for everyone interested in this field,” said Ed Mondor, Ph.D., interim director of the Georgia Southern Center for Forensic Sciences and coordinator of the event. “Forensics isn’t limited to just one area, it spans multiple disciplines: anthropology, biology, chemistry, criminal justice. We have it all.”

The keynote speaker will be Animal Crimes Resource Prosecutor Jessica Rock from the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia. Other invited speakers will discuss topics such as forensic pathology, forensic palynology, forensic nursing, forensic psychology and more. Panelists include Interim Statesboro Police Chief Jared Akins, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region Five Special Agent in Charge Lindsay Smith, Chatham County Police Department Crime Scene Investigator Matthew Diggins and Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Catherine Sumner.

Mondor sees the event as a forum connecting all corners of the forensic science community. He hopes the annual event continues to serve students, faculty and investigators.

“From students who want to know what these careers look like, professors who want to know  how their knowledge can serve a case, to law enforcement who need access to specialized knowledge and the public who just want to know how all this works, everyone can come away with something,” said Mondor. “Forensics impacts everyone, and it excludes no one. There’s a role for all of us.”

The symposium is part of a continuing partnership with Shimadzu, which has provided world-class equipment and learning opportunities to Georgia Southern students. Speakers from Shimadzu will highlight how cutting-edge technology is being applied to cases today and how agencies from metropolitan cities to rural communities can access it.

“Shimadzu has been a great partner by providing everything from advanced lab equipment to funding for student research internships,” said Michael Huggins, Ph.D., dean of COSM. “They have shown us firsthand how reliable industry partners can make an impact in science.”

The event will take place at the Military Science Building on the Statesboro Campus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration is closed as the event has reached capacity.

As businesses and communities navigate the growth of AI, the Department of Mathematics at 91����’s College of Science and Mathematics is hosting Po-Shen Loh, Ph.D., professor of mathematical sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, to discuss what this growing technology means for the people it impacts. Reflecting Georgia Southern’s leadership in charting the responsible use of AI in education and industry, the lecture will inform attendees on the practical uses of AI, the societal effects of its implementation and the infrastructure required to support it.

“What is the best way for people to handle the future? What kinds of skills are people going to need? What is different between humans and machines?” Loh asked. “People who attend will get directions for how they can lead their own future in a world where AI is strong.” 

Loh envisions the lecture as both an informative presentation and an open discussion where people can share their own hopes and concerns. His work brings him into discussions with leaders of AI development companies where he shares feedback he receives from attendees at his forums.

“The way I usually do my talks is I look at the audience, I try to find out what they care about, and we talk about some of those things,” said Loh. “I like making it interactive.”

Loh believes the ability for people to discuss and find solutions together is the age-old solution to the newest challenges.

“Even in a world where there are very powerful machines and people are getting more lonely, we can build a community that has thoughtful people,” said Loh. “We can still find meaning and cohesion at a time when it feels like technology is pulling us all apart.”

Professor of Mathematics Education Heidi Eisenreich, Ph.D., sees Georgia Southern as an important source of knowledge in conversations that matter to the region.

“Georgia Southern has such a strong connection with the local area,” said Eisenreich. “It’s a family-oriented place and we make sure to support our community like family. This talk bridges the topics of math and education while providing a place for our neighbors to join a bigger conversation about our future together.”

The lecture is Tuesday, Aug. 25, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., on the Statesboro Campus in the Russell Student Union Ballroom. It is free and open to the public.

The discussion is part of the Stone Distinguished Lecture Series. The series is endowed in honor of Professor Emeritus of Mathematics David R. Stone, Ph.D., who taught at 91���� for 49 years. He arrived in 1968 as an assistant professor, retired from his full-time position in 2008 and taught part-time through 2017. 

91���� instructors are always looking for opportunities to bring research into the classroom, even when classes aren’t in session. That’s why Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Mark dela Cerna, Ph.D., jumped at the chance to spend time with the Malate Dehydrogenase (MDH) CUREs Community (MCC) cohort during summer break. 

CUREs (Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences) bypass traditional canned lab experiments by bringing a research experience into the classroom. The idea is to engage students in research topics that will pair with their classroom and lab instruction, giving them the chance to contribute to knowledge generation. Dela Cerna says the program focuses on MDH, an essential enzyme found in all living organisms.   

“Dr. Sue DeChenne-Peters, a previous member of the program, looks at MDH in cancers,” he explained. “However, I want to frame it from the biophysicist’s viewpoint and explore the structure-function dynamics.” 

Each member of the cohort is expected to develop and run a CUREs program at their home institution. Dela Cerna intends to pair it with the biochemistry curriculum, specifically upper-level bioinstrumental and biophysics courses on the Armstrong campus.  

“This is an opportunity to modernize our curriculum,” dela Cerna explained. “We have a lot of students in our program who are very interested in research. CUREs allow us to increase our research capacity in the classroom.” 

The program also lowers the barriers to entry for students who might not be able to participate in faculty-led research. Dela Cerna believes it will lead to increased interest in structural biology and molecular biophysics. Implementing the program will come with its own challenges, but dela Cerna said he has his cohort to rely on for support.

“CUREs programs are very difficult to implement properly,” he said. “But the MCC has a great community and support system. They really care about bringing educators who are passionate about research in the classroom, and that’s what matters most to me.”

Incoming freshman Jaida Bedgood won’t be new to Georgia Southern this fall. She’s been part of the Eagle family since high school.

“When I was in 10th grade, I started dual enrollment at the Armstrong Campus. I just loved the tight-knit and community-based atmosphere. And I was like, you know what? I’m already an Eagle. This is my school,” she said. 

Graduating at the top of her class from Alfred Ely Beach High School, Bedgood learned she had been chosen for the highly selective scholarship while at work. She recalled the moment she briefly checked her emails, discovering her acceptance. 

“I was about to take my lunch break, and I realized that I had two email notifications. When I looked further, I noticed the ‘congratulations’ at the top of my screen. My coworker comforted me, because I couldn’t help but cry a little,” Bedgood remembered. 

Launched in 2017 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gates Scholarship provides total coverage of the cost of attendance for college, including tuition, fees, housing, meal plans, transportation and additional personal expenses. Thousands of students apply each year, only a fraction are selected for the scholarship.

“I was still in shock when I got home,” Bedgood continued. “I remember calmly telling my mom, Ashley, I had been chosen. She was overjoyed. I’ve always been able to call my mom when I need the support. She’s always there for me whether I need advice or someone to just listen. Both of my parents, my sister and best friend are a major part of my journey.”

Bedgood will officially begin her undergraduate degree in biology in less than a month. But her work in the Savannah community has already begun, serving as an active member of the NAACP. In addition, she’s already secured her first internship opportunity. Last April, Bedgood attended the Big Tide Summit, earning the opportunity to be a “Big Med for the Day” participant. In August, she will shadow physicians at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. 

Bedgood will also enter the Georgia Southern Honors College and be part of the first freshman class to experience the Center for Forensic Sciences. According to Bedgood, the numerous opportunities for learning and networking are both exciting and invaluable. 

“I’m looking forward to the internships and undergraduate research opportunities provided by the Honors College. My goal is to become a doctor, and I plan on going into forensic pathology in the future. I saw the announcement of the center on the local news, and it made me even more confident in my decision to choose Georgia Southern – like it was made for me.”

For other students hoping to follow in her footsteps. Bedgood says it’s important to remember that your future self will be thankful for the person you are today. 

“You have to think about where you came from and where you want to go,” she said. “What do you want out of life? You’re doing this for your future self, and your future self will thank you.”

As summer heat settles across the region, students in the College of Science and Mathematics (COSM) at 91���� are completing research projects from the laboratory to the salt marsh. 

A window to the future

Kenadee Jones is working on smart window technology in the labs inside the Nursing/Chemistry Building on the 91���� Statesboro Campus. Using advanced materials like vanadium dioxide, Jones is researching how windows can adjust to allow different amounts of infrared (IR) radiation into a room without changing how much visible light comes through. The result would be windows that control how much of the sun’s natural heat enters a room without changing how bright it is inside. 

“Once the outside reaches a certain temperature, let’s say 70 degrees Fahrenheit, it optimizes to allow visible light through, but it reflects a lot of IR radiation back,” said Jones. “That means we don’t get as much heat through the window, which gives the feeling of a cooler room. It would also work in the reverse by allowing more IR radiation into the room to warm it back up if the room became too cool.”

This kind of hands-on research is exactly why Jones chose the Applied Physical Science program at Georgia Southern for her master’s degree.

“During my undergrad, I realized that I had a really big passion for chemistry, but specifically materials and coatings,” said Jones. “When choosing a master’s program, Georgia Southern was kind of a no-brainer because they have a specific concentration for materials and coatings. I was super interested in this specific project because it’s so applicable to everyday life, and it’s also something that has a lot of potential to help with energy conservation, which is a really big topic right now.”

Growing a new discovery

Environmental science doctoral student Sara Ward spends her summer days in the greenhouse on the Armstrong Campus in Savannah nurturing Spartina grass. While the grass is known to grow in two distinct strains (tall and short) it is unknown whether they are distinct genetic species or if environmental factors cause the grass to grow differently in different areas.

“We were doing a lot of background research on Spartina in class and we found a big gap in the existing research,” said Ward. “I kept asking all these questions to Dr. Heather Joesting and she said ‘I think this could be a project for you to be the first one to figure this out.’ I realized that nobody had answered the question. Nobody had written anything yet.”

That kind of support from faculty made all the difference in Ward’s education. Originally an undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee, Ward struggled and thought a college degree might not be in her future. She transferred to Georgia Southern, earned her bachelor’s, then continued on to the Ph.D. level.

“I was feeling really uninspired about school until I transferred to Georgia Southern,” said Ward. “I felt like the professors cared about me being here and that did so much for me. I took plant ecology with Dr. Joesting and it inspired me. Then I did a semester-long research project that launched me into wanting to do this Spartina project. I literally would not be doing any of this if it wasn’t for coming to this school and being in her classes.”

Supercharging Spartina

Biology students Kayla Koory and Dex Bloodworth trek through the marshland surrounding historic Fort Pulaski every week to monitor the native Spartina grass that grows there. Koory is studying the effects of carbon-capturing additives like olivine to see if the marsh can become a turbocharged pollution cleaner without damaging the delicate ecosystem. The work is part of Koory’s thesis in the Master of Science program while Bloodworth, a Bachelor of Science student, is assisting through the COSM Office of Undergraduate Research (COUR) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). 

Bloodworth says the unique opportunities provided through SURF are a huge enhancement to a typical bachelor’s degree.

“It’s really cool to have an opportunity like this as an undergraduate,” said Bloodworth. “You usually hear about master’s and Ph.D. students doing all the heavy fieldwork, so getting to join them to be part of it early on is great and sets me up for what I want to do in the future.”

Koory loves that Georgia Southern’s commitment to coastal resiliency and the support from faculty to pursue passion projects converged into a dream scenario of conducting original marshland research.

“When I started looking into going back to grad school, I knew I was interested in the environment and I’ve always had a big passion for the salt marsh,” said Koory. “This was the perfect project for me to get started in my own research.”

Bloodworth says students and faculty create a shared environment that makes learning exciting.

“I learn a lot from the people I work with and everybody is really awesome to me,” said Bloodworth. “It’s like I finally found my community. Being able to get out there and do all of this, especially while I’m still an undergraduate, I know that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life and I know that I’m not wasting my degree.”

Tyler Cyronak, Ph.D., an assistant professor at 91����’s School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, is leading a group of 20 students from universities across the U.S. on a trip to New Zealand. The trip is the conclusion of a multiyear National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program that has enabled students to do hands-on coral reef research. This final trip will take students to the International Coral Reef Symposium this month where they will learn from top experts and share their own discoveries.

“This is quite a large conference with thousands of attendees,” said Cyronak. “It is the place where everybody goes who works on coral reefs every four years, so the students will get to network with scientists from around the globe.”

Georgia Southern environmental science doctoral student Alejandra Daniel is looking forward to taking part in the adventure. Having joined a previous trip to Australia that focused on field research, Daniel is excited for a new travel opportunity that focuses on presenting findings.

“These will be two completely different experiences,” said Daniel. “The first one in Australia was all about going to this incredible research station and learning field techniques from some of the best researchers in the world. This New Zealand trip will allow us to share our own research, watch others present their own, and then have the opportunity to talk to them about it and ask questions.”

In addition to formal presentations, Cyronak says students will gain invaluable perspective from immersing themselves in a new place while they learn.

“They will come home having seen how broad the scope of science can be and expand their own horizons,” said Cyronak. “There will be people at the conference from every country you could imagine, so they will get to meet experts from all over the planet who share their interest in science and build a professional network.”

Cyronak says he knows exactly how important it is for students to get outside of the classroom because of the impact field research made on his own journey.

“I was able to do a three-month course on coral reef science in Curacao going from my undergraduate to my master’s degree,” said Cyronak. “It opened my eyes to doing research in the field. Being immersed for such a long time gave me a better mastery of all the techniques of research. I wanted to give that opportunity back to students because it was so pivotal in my career.”

Daniel agrees that the experiences offered through grant programs give students opportunities to grow that they cannot get anywhere else.

“It’s so incredible to step outside of the classroom and see places truly on the opposite side of the world,” said Daniel. “Everything I have done through the program has been a beautiful reminder of why I want to be part of this field and it has gotten me through the hard parts of the degree. There’s no way I would have been able to have these experiences without it.”

91����’s College of Science and Mathematics assistant professor Wenjie Li, Ph.D., will spend 10 weeks at the Georgia Institute of Technology as part of the 2026 Energy Faculty Fellow Program. Li is joined by undergraduate student Joshua Parker. Together, the duo is working closely with other research groups at Georgia Tech on major energy projects. 

“My research topic is energy efficiency,” explained Li. “If we burn fuel at higher temperatures, engines become more efficient. But right now, materials crack and break at those temperatures. I’m focused on finding solutions for problems like these.”

The stakes are high. Almost two-thirds of the energy used to generate electricity is lost as waste heat, while only one-third is effectively used, he said. Power generation creates significant carbon dioxide emissions, leading to major environmental challenges. Increased demand on the country’s already aging energy infrastructure is only making matters worse. 

“There are a lot of challenges surrounding this field,” he said. “When it comes to fundamental research like this, it’s high risk, high reward. You can never guarantee the results you want. But programs like this are meant to bring researchers together, to build this network of collaboration so that our studies continue long after the program ends.”

Those long-term benefits apply to students as well. Li says the next generation of students who will carry forward sustainable technology development needs to be ready.   

“The research is important, but the education of young people is equally important,” he explained. “The two cannot be separate. We, as instructors, need to be able to transfer our knowledge to the following generations.” 

In the next few weeks, the duo will present their findings to fellow researchers. Li said he’s excited to bring what he’s learned back home to the students at Georgia Southern. 

“I have a responsibility to my students,” he said. “It’s my responsibility to teach them and lead them to resources like this program, so they can make their own decisions when they go to build their future.”