INDUSTRY

The Georgia Research Alliance announced a new category of investment: the Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator Award. Dr. R. Kelly Dawe, University of Georgia Professor of Plant Biology and Genetics, has been named the inaugural recipient of the award. The honor will be awarded to scholars at GRA-affiliated universities who demonstrate and continue outstanding work in either the biosciences or advanced communications and computing. Each honoree will take on the title of "Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator" and receive an annual endowment provided jointly by the GRA and the honoree's university. The University of Georgia is providing its portion of the endowment in honor of long-time professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Dr. Lars G. Ljungdahl. "This program is designed to help retain Georgia's best and brightest scholars who may be targeted for recruitment by other states," said Georgia Research Alliance Vice President Susan Shows. "While we focus on luring the top researchers from around the world to Georgia, we can't forget to honor promising researchers who are already helping our universities and our economy with their work. We're pleased that our first award honors one of GRA's early collaborators in Dr. Ljungdahl and one of the University of Georgia's most promising scientists in Dr. Dawe." In order to earn a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator designation, researchers must have a proven track record of grant productivity and team leadership in a research environment. Honorees must also demonstrate an interest in applying research to commercial opportunities that build Georgia's science- and technology-based economy. "We're delighted that Dr. Kelly Dawe has been named recipient of the GRA Distinguished Investigator Award in honor of Dr. Lars Ljungdahl," said Garnett S. Stokes, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "Dr. Dawe's outstanding record speaks for itself, and we are especially glad that the award honors Dr. Ljungdahl, one of the most distinguished faculty members ever in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences." Dr. Dawe's research centers on how plant chromosomes are segregated to progeny. His laboratory focuses on structures known as centromeres, which are directly responsible for the movement of chromosomes from one generation to the next. He hopes to use information about centromeres to create "artificial chromosomes" that can be used to introduce new genetic traits into crop plants. Dr. Dawe received a Master of Science degree from the University of California-Riverside and obtained his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California-Berkeley. He joined the University of Georgia faculty in 1989 and received the 2000 Creative Research Medal from UGA for his study of how plant chromosomes work in cells.