In the face of some of this institution’s greatest challenges, the University of Georgia’s commitment to excellence never wavered. And that commitment—demonstrated through years of effort by the University community—is paying off. In 2020-2021, we witnessed the hallmarks of academic excellence.
Student
Achievement
Faculty
Recognition
Concrete
Real-World
Impact
It was a year in which we raised the bar for ourselves once again, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of the Bulldog Nation.
#15
best public university
U.S. News & World Report
Among Our Nations Best
In September 2020, we climbed to No. 15 on U.S. News & World Report’s list of the nation’s best public universities, marking the fifth consecutive year that UGA was in the top 20. We are one of only two SEC institutions in the top 20.
Star Students
Some of our best and brightest students earned national and international recognition for their academic achievements. In the 2020-2021 academic year, UGA students were selected for a number of prestigious scholarships, including the Rhodes Scholarship, Goldwater Scholarship, Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Churchill Scholarship, and Schwarzman Scholarship. These students were part of the UGA Honors Program, and many of them were supported by Foundation Fellowships. Fourteen UGA students and alumni were offered Fulbright awards, making UGA one of the nation's top producers of Fulbright students.
Designated as a Top Producer of Fulbright U.S. Students
4th time this decade
Faculty Recognition
Welcome to the Academy
Three UGA faculty, all from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, were elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021: Gregory H. Robinson, J. Marshall Shepherd, and Mary Ann Moran. This selection is one of the highest honors a scientist can earn.
To date, 14 current or former UGA faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Shepherd also was elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in 2021.
Innovative Excellence
Vice President for Instruction Rahul Shrivastav, who is a prominent researcher in assistive communication technology and speech sciences, was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
UGA Provost S. Jack Hu was named among the 20 most influential academics in smart manufacturing by SME, a nonprofit that supports the manufacturing industry.
Out of this World
A student-led effort successfully launched UGA’s first research satellite into space. In October 2020, the small satellite SPOC, short for Spectral Ocean Color, lifted off aboard an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
SPOC, which is about the size of a loaf of bread, is now orbiting Earth, monitoring the health of coastal ecosystems from space and providing valuable data to researchers at UGA and beyond.
In just a few years, UGA’s Small Satellite Research Lab, conceived as a collaboration between students and faculty researchers across multiple disciplines, has made huge strides in supporting UGA research and innovation with this new class of small satellites. The lab hopes to launch its second satellite in 2022.
Research and Innovation that Changes Lives
The University has invested heavily in the research enterprise. National indicators confirm that we are not only ramping up our research capabilities but also contributing to real-world impact. In the latest tally, annual research and development expenditures reached nearly $500 million.
Increasingly, that research is being translated into commercial products and services to improve lives.
- In 2021, the University regained the nation’s top spot for the number of products developed by industry partners based on our research discoveries. That’s according to a survey by AUTM, which promotes university innovation.
- To date, UGA research has inspired the creation of more than 850 commercial products.
- Meanwhile, The Innovation Impact of U.S. Universities report named UGA No. 10 for productivity in generating innovation impact among large research universities.
#10
for generating innovation impact
Innovation Impact of U.S. Universities