UWG Stories
Dr. Georgina DeWeese
"(Geosciences) is an important field because of the issues of resource management and climate change that are now impacting global societies,” DeWeese said.
When the Abraham Lincoln Cabin, long thought to be the birthplace of the famed president, was tested for authenticity, the University of West Georgia’s very own “mythbuster,” Dr. Georgina DeWeese, along with a team of geoscientists, discovered that this was impossible. The structure was built around the mid-1800s, almost thirty years after his birth.
Her landmark discovery is only one of many during her dendroarchaeology career. She has been involved with the historical dating of structures, musical instruments, furniture and paleo-indian artifacts since she began her Ph.D. program at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, which houses the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science.
Her dissertation research in fire-climates in the eastern ecosystems led to her involvement with the Georgia Trail of Tears Association. She is currently working to discover the authenticity of the Chief John Ross House in Rossville, which is thought to be the oldest building in the region, built in 1797. She plans to continue her efforts with GTTA to expand the documentation of landmarks along the Trail of Tears throughout Georgia.
DeWeese has been able to continue her research through the support of the University of West Georgia. Although UWG has a fine Graduate School offering masters, specialists and doctoral programs, the university’s focus on providing undergraduates with unique research experiences is the ideal environment for DeWeese.
“The reason why I was attracted to West Georgia had to do with its commitment to undergraduate education and research,” she said. “I received all of my degrees from large universities that specialized in training graduate students. I wanted to be somewhere where the focus was producing quality, employable undergraduates.”
She says her dedication to geosciences stems from a desire to understand the forces shaping the environment around her. And in this ever-changing world, she believes that geoscience is an area of growing importance and concern.
“This is an important field because of the issues of resource management and climate change that are now impacting global societies,” she concluded. “The world is going to need good water resource managers, foresters, climatologists and geologists in years to come.”
