Six University of Georgia faculty and staff members are being honored for their commitment to public service and outreach. These honorees have made significant career-spanning contributions to UGA’s public service mission through scholarship, service-learning opportunities for students and campus leadership. All have created a legacy of extraordinary impact through special projects and long-term achievements to propel a better quality of life for the people of Georgia.

New Creation Soda Works won the grand prize at the 2024 Flavor of Georgia food contest for their product, PECHES Georgia Peach Soda. A family-owned company based in Bishop, Georgia, New Creation Soda Works started selling their soda syrups at a local farmer’s market in 2015. Today, their product line — comprised of sodas with flavors including strawberry habanero, butter pecan cream soda and the old-time root beer that inspired the company — sells in more than 700 locations nationwide.

Stanley Culpepper has dedicated the length of his career to supporting farmers in their mission to feed and clothe the world. For the past 25 years, Culpepper has been a weed science specialist for University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and a College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences faculty member. Recently his job has become increasingly complex as mounting challenges around the availability of pesticides — primarily herbicides — have taken center stage in agricultural production.

The Georgia 4-H Foundation is encouraging friendly competition between 4-H supporters in each county in Georgia to benefit positive youth development during the “$4 for 4-H” fundraiser on April 4. In what has become an annual tradition, each Georgia county asks local donors to make online donations of $4 or more that day, with the goal of receiving at least four donations per county. Counties that receive four or more donations will turn green on a Georgia map that will be updated throughout the day on social media April 4.

As the spring semester starts winding down, the University of Georgia’s annual Honors Week marks a time to celebrate exceptional performance in the classroom, in the service arena and in research, as faculty and graduate students are recognized for their contributions to scientific discovery. Celebrating its 45th year, UGA’s Research Awards banquet and ceremony, set for April 4, will pay tribute to those who have made groundbreaking strides in their respective fields through research, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

Another successful cycle of the University of Georgia’s FABricate Entrepreneurial Initiative wrapped up Tuesday night at the Delta Innovation Hub, with a sustainable pool-maintenance solution winning the $10,000 grand prize. Pool Protection Technologies, founded by UGA College of Engineering students Garrett Stigall and Guy Gober, highlighted its high-quality sound amplifying machine (SAM) that treats algae growth in pools.

New research from the University of Georgia suggests that something as simple as a cup of tea can help in the fight against COVID-19. Tea has been renowned globally for its many health benefits, and Malak Esseili, a virologist with the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, wanted to know if it may also affect SARS-CoV-2.

Food insecurity, indicated by a lack of consistent access to nutritious foods, continues to affect Georgia families and poses unique obstacles to charitable food assistance programs trying to address the need. The 2023 Georgia Hunger Study, conducted by an interdisciplinary team of University of Georgia researchers in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Human Services and Feeding Georgia, found that 79% of households utilizing charitable food agencies reported experiencing food insecurity.

As Georgia’s No. 1 industry, agriculture pumps billions of dollars into the state’s economy each year. While headlines often highlight Georgia’s commodities — peanuts, blueberries, poultry and more — one aspect of agriculture is often not discussed, the farmers themselves. At the 2024 Farm Stress Summit, held at the Chattahoochee Technical College Jasper campus, a few critical points were woven throughout each of the day’s sessions: The people are the most important part of Georgia’s agricultural industry, and the state needs to come together to help farmers and promote agricultural education and awareness.