Hydropolis creates sustainable, resilient, and biodiverse communities by analyzing ecosystems and designing interventions like green spaces, waterway rehabilitations, and infrastructural innovations across urban and rural contexts. Our hybrid approach combines engineering, design, and communication science to reimagine infrastructure and how it is understood. We investigate an array of exciting topics that include water quality management […]
February 28, 2026
Earth System Model Analysis for Industry Applications
Weather and climate events can have major impacts on society, via both extremes and persistent conditions. These events can impact society directly, such as damaging infrastructure and transportation systems, disrupting agricultural and industrial operations, and loss of lives, as well as indirectly by disturbing natural ecosystems. This project team will develop reliable climate data analysis […]
February 28, 2026
The UGA Athens campus provides many unique opportunities for learning. Our VIPR team will employ the notion of campus as a living lab to explore current issues in urban water resources and to develop a mechanistic understanding of streams traversed by decades of UGA students. The field of water resources science is intrinsically interdisciplinary and spans undergraduate […]
February 27, 2026
AI Agents for a Sustainable Food Supply
Interactive AI agents will be used to revolutionize how we develop, deploy and manage our food supply, and prepare students for a workforce prioritizing agentic AI literacy. UGA excels in developing new crop varieties and providing agronomic advice. AI agents can be used to aid key breeding decisions as well as provide advice on crop […]
December 2, 2024
Agriculture productivity and livestock health are significantly influenced by factors such as ammonia levels, methane emissions, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture. Traditional sensing solutions often lack precision, durability, or affordability for widespread deployment, particularly in rural and underserved areas. This VIPR team will address these challenges by developing smart, affordable, and customizable sensors. The sensors […]
December 2, 2024
Project MACAW: Managing Avian Collisions At Windows
This team will identify hotspots and timing of lethal bird collisions with windows on the UGA campus. Students will: uncover the ecological and design drivers of collisions; assess knowledge and educate UGA students, staff, and faculty about the issue; develop monitoring protocols; and propose innovative solutions to prevent collisions by engaging with multiple stakeholders at […]
December 2, 2024
Agrivoltaics: Land-Centered Solutions for a Sustainable Energy Transition
Rapid climate change associated with the burning of fossil fuels has stimulated a global transition towards renewable energy sources. However, the lower “energy density” of clean energy sources such as photovoltaics (solar power) means that large areas of land are needed to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Agrivoltaics provides a potential win-win for landowners […]