
(photo courtesy of Summer Fink)
The Graduate School’s Communication of Research and Scholarship Grants support graduate students who seek to communicate the results of their scholarship to non-academic audiences. These outreach activities engage new populations with research and scholarship by UGA graduate students and provide opportunities for students to develop skills that will serve them in a range of careers.
Outreach projects supported by these grants have included school demonstrations, public presentations, game and video development, podcast series, and creation of digital applications.
Recipients of the grant are awarded up to $1,000, which may be used for equipment, supplies, and other operating costs. New for Summer 2025, the Graduate School secured campus partnerships with the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication’s New Media Institute and the Center for Teaching and Learning to connect several awardees with recording and editing equipment in UGA’s podcasting studios.
In Summer 2024, our Communication of Research and Scholarship Grant recipients engaged audiences among an array of subjects. Meet our recipients and how they connected their research:

(photo courtesy of Summer Fink)
Summer Fink, Forestry and Natural Resources
Summer Fink created Classrooms for Critters: Toolkit for Making Wildlife Friendly Classrooms. These are kits for 4th-graders that feature interactive coloring books (co-created by Summer), 3D printed skulls, bird feeders, and wildlife cameras. Kits are provided to teachers in the Atlanta area to foster youth learning and enthusiasm for urban wildlife and nature.
Jessica Budwitz, Chemistry
Jessica Budwitz produced sets of digital and printed flashcards for memorization of 120 named chemical reactions. She printed and distributed 100 sets to university students and professors.
Joshua Weiss, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Joshua Weiss organized and implemented an in-person lab-based experiment in synthetic biology for local middle school and high school students. Students created genetically engineered organisms with bacteria and yeast which they viewed under UV lights. This led to a summer research internship and mentorship opportunity for a local high school student at UGA.
Steven Binder, Engineering
Steven Binder produced these two video tutorials to teach K-12 students how to make optical engineering experiments using simple household equipment and step-by-step instructions.
Bruno Guimaraes Ubiali, Anthropology
Bruno Guimaraes Ubiali organized meetings with smallholder farmers in Pará, Brazil (Brazilian Amazon) to help local farmers pursue sustainable agricultural production and land claim strategies.
Aleena Rayamajhi, Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering
Aleena Rayamajhi trained ornamental horticultural growers on the SpotChecker web-based tool for disease prediction and management at the Southeast Green Conference and Trade Show in June 2024.
Brennan Peterson Wood, Forestry and Natural Resources
Brennan Peterson Wood hosted outreach meetings with livestock farmers and officials at the King Nehale Communal Conservancy of Namibia where he discussed research findings and distributed brochures on how to use non-lethal chemical scents to deter carnivores that would harm livestock.
Alexandra Hofner, Anthropology/ICON
Alexandra Hofner collaborated with a Sri Lankan artist and UGA researchers to create a storybook on animal ecology and conservation. Blending illustrations and storytelling with science, the book is designed for youth to understand preserving monkey habitats, risks of feeding wildlife, and how habitat loss leads to human-primate conflict. The funding paid for the illustrations while additional UGA funds paid for translations into Sinhala and Tamil.
Yaochao Zheng, Animal and Dairy Sciences
Yaochao Zheng produced a 10-episode podcast series on the application of Nobel Prize-winning technology in regenerative bioscience research (REB) for public awareness. The field of REB focuses on harnessing the body’s healing abilities for tissue regeneration.
Congratulations to the following recipients of the Summer 2025 Communication of Research and Scholarship Grant. We are excited to follow their progress and results:
- Taiwo Adesiyan, Horticulture
- Steven Binder, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Taylor Bird, Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication
- Hannah Budroe, Marine Sciences
- Nikole Castleberry, Comparative Biomedical Sciences
- Zachary Hirsch Santagata, Horticulture
- Andrew Lyons, Forestry and Natural Resources
- Animesh Paul, Engineering
- Mitzy Velazco, Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy
- Yan Zhang, Horticulture
- Yaochao Zheng, Animal and Dairy Sciences
The Graduate School offers a variety of awards and scholarships, tuition waivers, research grants, funding for conference travel, and a Dissertation Completion Award. Learn more here.