Wayne-Sanderson Farms has announced an additional $2 million donation for the new Poultry Science Building at the University of Georgia. The gift brings project support from the Georgia-based poultry producer to $4.1 million. The combined gift will name the Poultry Science Building student lobby, a 1,300-square-foot space for students to study and network with industry partners. Situated on UGA’s South Campus, the 70,000-plus square-foot Poultry Science Building provides nearly double the space per student in each classroom than the previous facility.

From crop molecular genetics to estuarine mussels to computer experiments, three University of Georgia undergraduates have been honored for furthering research in their fields of study. Juniors Oscar de la Torre, Anderson Smith and Sloka Sudhin are among the 441 undergraduates from across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars this spring. They have earned the highest undergraduate award of its type for the fields of mathematics, engineering and natural sciences.

In the most competitive FABricate contest to date, Sean Snarey, a graduate student in agribusiness in the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, took home the $10,000 prize on March 27 for his automated poultry rehanging system. FABricate is an entrepreneurial pitch contest where students develop their idea for a new food product, new agricultural technology, new food or agricultural-related business or new environmental or sustainable business.

Andres Villegas knows a thing or two about trees, and he wants you to know them as well. Throughout his career in the agriculture and forestry industry, Villegas has become an advocate and bridge builder connecting rural and urban communities through sustainable food and fiber products. Villegas was born in Colombia but moved to Athens at 8 months old when his parents, Pedro Villegas and Angela Villegas, returned to the University of Georgia for his father to become a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. From a young age, Villegas was interested in natural resources and agriculture.

Seventeen University of Georgia students received Fulbright offers for the 2024-25 academic year, placing UGA among the top-producing institutions for Fulbright U.S. students. This is the third year in a row — and the seventh time in 12 years — that UGA has been named a top producer of Fulbright U.S. students. Leah Whitmoyer, Fulbright recipient and recent College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences grad, is in Tunisia working on agricultural research projects addressing compost production, well water sampling for salinity and aquifer monitoring.

Dr. Colby Ruiz was a teenager when he watched his first surgery. He volunteered in the operating room at Valdosta’s South Georgia Medical Center, where his parents worked as nurses. Ruiz could have ended up in any of the hospital units except, at 14, he really didn’t want to wear the pink “candy striper” uniform of most hospital volunteers. When Ruiz learned that OR volunteers wore green, he was all in.