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The End of Chevron Deference: Adam Orford discusses a new era of administrative and environmental law with River Basin Center

In 1984, the Supreme Court made a critical decision on the powers of federal agencies: where statutes set by legislation are clear, agencies must follow the direct statute, and where statutes are not fully clear, agencies are allowed the freedom of “reasonable interpretations." This deference to agency expertise is the legal foundation
Laurel Dace

RBC Affiliates Team up to Rescue Species From Extinction

This summer, researchers from the River Basin Center assisted the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute (TNACI) in rescuing one of the last populations of the Laurel Dace, an endangered minnow species, from a drying stream in Tennessee. The rescue, conducted in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, has since attracted media
Butler Fellow Mackenzi Hallmark (left), and Spencer Fellows Valeria Aspinall (center) and Justin Jimawo (right) standing in front of the UGA turtle pond.

RBC Welcomes New Spencer and Butler Fellows

The River Basin Center has named Justin Jimawo and Valeria Aspinall this year’s Spencer Fellows, and Mackenzi Hallmark this year’s Butler Fellow. The John Spencer Fellowship was created by family and friends to honor the legacy of the late John Spencer, a graduate student at the Odum School of Ecology. The Butler
Anuja Mital looking through binoculars on a bluff above a river in India.

The Ever-Shifting River

John Spencer Grant recipient and National Geographic Explorer Anuja Mital works to understand how turtles move across the dynamic Brahmaputra River valley.
A great blue heron flies above a river.

Study: People are altering decomposition rates in waterways

June 12, 2024 No Comments

A new study co-authored by RBC Associate Director Krista Capps and Affiliate J.P. Schmidt gathered data from 550 rivers across 40 countries and found that human intervention increases the rate of decomposition of plant matter, depriving freshwater life of food at a faster rate than usual, as well as potentially exacerbating climate change.

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River Basin Center faculty affiliates Shana Jones, Roberto Perdisci, and Marshall Shepherd.

Affiliates awarded Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grants

February 20, 2024 No Comments

RBC affiliate and Carl Vinson Institute of Government Associate Director Shana Jones is leading a New Frontiers project, one track of the Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program, that establishes UGA as a testbed for electric vehicle implementation and to inform both academic and applied research by establishing EV adoption and infrastructure on campus. Several other affiliates—including Marshall Shepherd, Brian Bledsoe, and Mark Risse—led or were members of 2023 Seed Grant projects.

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