News Stories - Page 5

Poultry, specifically broiler production, is Georgia’s top livestock agricultural commodity, with an average of 31 million pounds of chicken produced every day throughout the state. At the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, experts have helped developed biomapping technology for processing facilities that is making the food supply safer.

The photo was simple: a man in blue scrubs against a beige wall with a blue pill in his mouth. The caption was anything but. “My name is Dr. Jake. I’m a physician who treats mental illness, and I take medication for my mental health. And by the way, I’m proud of it.”

In the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, students are exposed to new ideas, concepts and methods in classrooms and labs every day. The Ratcliffe Scholars Program, part of the college’s experiential learning programming, supports undergraduate students as they deepen their understanding of their chosen fields through internships, study abroad programs and other immersive learning experiences.

Clustered around a surgical table, students carefully perform procedures on their patients, carefully monitoring every vital sign to ensure a successful outcome. This may sound like a scene from a medical school or residency, but it describes the experiences of undergraduate students in “Avian Surgical Techniques,” a course offered by the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Spray drones with pinpoint accuracy, produce-picking robots, autonomous systems to monitor broiler chicken health, and artificial intelligence to predict yield before the buds have faded from the trees — these are some of the solutions integrative precision agriculture promises an industry that is embracing the power of technology to address both age-old and emerging challenges.

When Rosalba Mazzotta was in the midst of her internship at a firm in the energy industry, the fourth-year biochemical engineering major took the opportunity to brush up on some of her research. She counted the number of employees of color. She also counted the number of white employees named John. They were the same. Four.