From the Editor

To the Reader:

As a reader of Research Reporter, you are among a diverse and erudite group. Almost all of you have a college degree; more than two-thirds have a master's degree; and half have a professional or doctoral degree.

Your education level was just one of many things that struck us as we tallied the results of the recent readership survey. We also learned you represent a broad range of academic disciplines: medicine, education, arts and humanities, agriculture, law and communications.

That's one reason we try to bring you a wide array of research stories conducted by UGA faculty and graduate students. This issue includes new findings about life and death in ancient Carthage pieced together from a 2,000-year-old cemetery by archaeologist Naomi Norman; a story about geneticist John Avise, who pioneered a new field that uses molecular tools to study evolution; and a report on the forces that fueled a very bleak time in American history: the lynching era.

You may not suffer from job burnout, but chances are friends and colleagues do. Robert Golembiewski's research shows that burnout has reached pandemic proportions and offers advice on how to avoid becoming a statistic.

The Briefs section includes reports on studies of bone density in women athletes, efforts to develop a vaccine for parrots and other feathered pets, research on how to get children more engaged in reading, the controversies brewing between international trade accords and environmental protection, and a system to preserve farming know-how gained through centuries of traditional cultivation methods.

Thank you for responding to the readership survey. Look for changes in future issues.

Happy reading,

Judy Bolyard Purdy