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The ADVANCE, February 17, 2021/Page 13A
BPC Assistant Professor of Chemistry’s
Research Published with PNAS
RESEARCH PUBLISHED — Dr. Rachel Kozlowski, above,
presented the work in her publication at the Biophysical
Society Meeting in San Diego, California, in February of
2020, The work was recently published in the Proceed
ings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America (PNAS),
RTCA HONOR SOCIETY — Robert Toombs Christian Academy held its annual National
Honor Society induction ceremony on Tuesday, February 9, 2021. To be eligible for
membership consideration, a student must have a cumulative grade point average
of 90. Additionally, members must meet high standards of leadership, character, and
service, Leadership is based on a student's participation in two or more community
or school activities, or election to an office. To meet the service requirement, the stu
dent must have a minimum of 20 community service hours. Character is measured in
terms of integrity, behavior, ethics, and cooperation with both students and faculty.
This year, RTCA inducted 18 students into the Robert Toombs Christian Academy Chap
ter.^ to R): Front Row: Madison Williams, Addie Thompson, Britton Botelho, Marli Mc-
Cranie, Kate Kennedy, Kaitlyn Reaves, Carleigh DeFee, Middle Row: Nicole Acosta,
Mary-Claire Wolfe, Emmie Lynn, Amily Mixon, Ellie Graham, Back Row: Jackson New
ton, Dawson Pinckard, Andrew Tuck, Adria Cuevas-Ortes, and Austin Akins.
New broadband bill draws opposition
in Georgia Senate committee
By Evan Riekhof
BPC Marketing Coordinator
Dr. Rachel Kozlowski,
Brewton-Parker College
(BPC) Assistant Professor
of Chemistry, was recently
published in the Proceed
ings of the National Acad
emy of Sciences of the
United States of America
(PNAS).
Her published re
search, “Acceleration of
catalysis in dihydrofolate
reductase by transient, site-
specific photothermal exci
tation” focuses on enzyme
dynamics. In describing
her research, Dr. Kozlows
ki stated, “I designed a
method to site-specifically
conjugate enzymes to gold
nanoparticles, excite the
enzyme at that attachment
point on fast and ultrafast
timescales, and observe it
with light.”
According to Dr. He
lene Peters, Chair of the
Math & Natural Sciences
Division and Professor of
Biology at BPC, “Dr. Ko-
zlowski's most recent pub
lication is an extremely
valuable contribution in
the field of enzyme dynam
ics and nanoscience.”
Dr. Peters character
ized the significance of the
findings of the research as
providing a “better under
standing of protein and
enzyme function and regu
lation ultimately leads to
opportunities for therapeu
tic intervention in disease
conditions without current
By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
Republican state sena
tors have rolled out a legisla
tive package aimed at over
hauling Georgias election
laws by limiting who can
vote by mail, outlining how
to prove identification and
outlawing absentee-ballot
drop boxes.
The eight bills, filed
late Monday by top Senate
Republican leaders, mark
the most sweeping attempt
to change local voting laws
after the 2020 election cy
cle stirred mistrust among
many conservative Geor
gians over the state’s elec
tion integrity.
The bills especially tar
get absentee voting in Geor
gia after all three major elec
tions in the 2020 cycle saw
more than 1 million mail-in
ballots cast amid the CO-
VID-19 pandemic, helping
Democrats carry Georgia
in the 2020 presidential
election and flip both of the
state’s U.S. Senate seats.
Democratic lawmak
ers quickly cried foul, slam
ming the move by Repub
licans as attempts at voter
suppression seeking to halt
Democrats’ momentum in
statewide elections that are
likely to be close for the next
several years.
Republican lawmakers
including Gov. Brian Kemp
and Georgia Secretary of
State Brad Raffensperger
have called many of the pro
posed changes necessary to
restore voter confidence in
the state’s election system
treatment options.” Dr. Ko-
zlowski’s research will help
other scientists who read
her work use her results
and her methodologies to
help further investigations
on enzyme dynamics.
Dr. Peters shared, “Her
[Dr. Kozlowski] research
and publication comple
ment her teaching as she
shares her expertise with
her chemistry students in
her classroom and labora
tory sessions, eagerly guid
ing and mentoring them to
and rein in mail-in voting
after local elections officials
complained they were over
whelmed during the 2020
cycle.
Three of the bills focus
on absentee voting by re
quiring a driver’s license or
other form of ID to request
an absentee ballot; banning
the mail-in drop boxes vot
ers used often in the 2020
elections; and ending regis
tered Georgia voters’ ability
to vote by mail for any rea
son.
No-excuse absentee
voting was installed by Re
publican lawmakers under
then-Gov. Sonny Perdue
and touted by Raffensperg
er as proof against claims of
voter suppression, particu
larly after Democratic can
didate Stacey Abrams’ loss
to Kemp in the 2018 guber
natorial election.
However, Raffens
perger called for ending
the practice after record-
breaking absentee ballots
hindered election officials’
ability to quickly process
results in the 2020 elections.
Former President Donald
Trump, who lost the Nov.
3 election by 11,779 votes,
lobbed claims of voter fraud
in Georgia based on absen
tee voting.
Other top Republicans
including Lt. Gov. Geoff
Duncan and Georgia House
Speaker David Ralston, R-
Blue Ridge, have opposed
ending no-excuse absentee
voting, preferring instead
to boost ID rules for mail-in
ballots.
pursue future undergradu
ate and graduate research
and careers in Chemistry”
Dr. Kozlowski stated
that while there may not be
further publications based
on this research, there
may be future publications
coming from working with
undergraduate researchers
at BPC.
The published research
can be accessed on PNAS’s
website: https: / / www.
pnas.org/ content/118/4/
e2014592118.
One of the bills filed
Monday would require reg
istered voters to provide
their date of birth, driver’s
license number or other
ID card number to request
an absentee ballot The bill
would also require voters to
submit photocopies of their
ID similar to a separate bill
proposed by state Sen. Jason
Anavitarte, R-Dallas, last
week.
Five other bills filed on
Monday propose:
• ending automatic vot
er registration for Georgians
who receive new or renewed
driver’s licenses;
• prohibiting anyone
except state and local elec
tions officials and candi
dates from sending voters
applications for mail-in bal
lots;
• blocking people from
casting ballots in congres
sional or U.S. Senate runoffs
after voting in general elec
tions in a different state;
• requiring county cor
oners to share monthly data
on local deaths with county
elections officials to prevent
illegal ballots from dead vot
ers;
• allowing poll watchers
to monitor vote tabulations
more closely
The proposals address
many claims Trump and
his allies made following
the 2020 elections of wide
spread voter fraud that state
officials and federal courts
rejected as baseless. Some
state lawmakers who held
hearings on the fraud claims
are co-sponsors of the bills.
The bills also echo
pledges to change state
election laws made shortly
after the Nov. 3 election by
Georgia Senate Republican
Caucus members, many of
whom are co-sponsors.
Lawmakers in the
Georgia Senate Ethics Com
mittee will likely review the
bills in the coming days.
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
Legislation that would
tap into a new source of
funding to expand broad
band service in Georgia got
some pushback this week
from the telecom industry
Senate Bill 65 would
convert a portion of a state
fund that now subsidizes
land-line service provided
by rural telephone compa
nies into a pot of money
to be used for broadband
projects. That portion of
the Universal Access Fund
(UAF) is due to expire later
this year, a decade after the
fund was created.
Funds from the UAF
would supplement the $20
million Gov. Brian Kemp
set aside for broadband in
the $26.5 billion mid-year
budget the General As
sembly passed on Thursday,
said Sen. Steve Gooch, R-
Dahlonega, the bill’s chief
sponsor.
“Twenty million dol
lars ... is a good start,”
Gooch told members of the
Senate Regulated Industries
Committee Thursday. “But
we need to put more money
into this year after year until
the problem is fixed.”
Lobbyists representing
telecom giants including
By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
A state Senate com
mittee debated a measure
Monday to limit terms for
Georgia House and Sen
ate members to 12 years
total, as well as doubling
the term for state senators
from two to four years.
A constitutional
amendment proposed by
Sen. GregDolezal, R-Cum-
ming, would set term limits
for state House members at
six two-year terms and for
senators at three four-year
terms. The limits would
kick in starting after the
2024 elections.
Currently, both House
and Senate lawmakers in
Georgia have unlimited re
course to seeking two-year
terms. Dolezal’s resolution
would also limit Georgia’s
lieutenant governor to two
four-year terms instead of
AT&T and small rural tele
phone companies agreed
that expanding broadband
into the many unserved ar
eas of rural Georgia is criti
cal to the state’s economy.
But they said raiding the
UAF is unnecessary.
“There are many federal
government programs dol
ing out substantial amounts
of funding to spread broad
band,” said Kevin Curtin,
assistant vice president of
legislative affairs for AT&T
Georgia.
One such federal pro
gram was launched by the
Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in De
cember. The FCC’s Rural
Digital Opportunity Fund
is allocating $9.2 billion
during the next 10 years to
broadband deployment in
49 states, including $326.5
million headed to Georgia.
Others argued lawmak
ers should look to the state’s
general fund budget to sup
port broadband projects, as
Kemp just did with the $20
million allocation.
“We want to continue
to try to bring broadband to
every Georgia citizen,” said
Hunter Hopkins, interim
executive director of the
Georgia Cable Association.
“Let’s just put more money
the current unlimited ten
ure.
“Term limits are some
thing that have bipartisan
support in every state of
the union,” Dolezal told
members of the Senate
Government Oversight
Committee Monday.
“The only thing that
people seem to agree on is
that we should come down
here, accomplish our work
[and] have it be a season of
our life as opposed to per
haps the entire book of our
life.”
No votes were taken
on the constitutional-
amendment on Monday.
If it clears committee, both
chambers in the General
Assembly would have to
pass it by a two-thirds vote.
It would then be placed on
the ballot for Georgia vot
ers to decide.
The resolution met
in the general fund versus
tinkering with the UAF.”
Some members of the
committee also were skepti
cal of the bill.
Committee Chairman
Bill Cowsert, R-Athens,
wondered whether the ru
ral phone companies would
raise their rates after the
UAF expires and they’re no
longer receiving subsidies
from it.
“[Are] poor people
in rural areas who already
don’t have broadband go
ing to get their phone rates
jacked up?” Cowsert asked.
Sen. Lindsey Tippins,
R-Marietta, said converting
a portion of the UAF to a
broadband fund might not
raise much money because
many Georgians are get
ting rid of their land-lines
telephones in favor of cell
phones.
“You’re talking about a
decreasing pool of revenue,”
Tippins said.
Gooch’s bill has 20
Republican cosponsors, in
cluding Cowsert, Tippins
and Senate President Pro
Tempore Butch Miller, R-
Gainesville.
But since Thursday’s
debate was limited to a
hearing on the measure, its
fate remains uncertain.
with pushback Monday
from freshman state Sen.
Sonya Halpern, D-Atlanta,
who argued term-limited
state lawmakers might be
more swayed by lobbyists
during their final years in
office without the incen
tive of seeking reelection.
“To me, they’d just be
more indebted to lobby
ists,” Halpern said. “I just
don’t feel like they would
be as motivated toward the
end of their terms to serve
their constituents as effec
tively.”
Dolezal said his reso
lution aims to oust career
politicians from the state
Capitol and curb the “in
fluences with an outsized
advantage” when wealthy
groups and lobbyists back
long-tenured state lawmak
ers who gain political influ
ence over the years.
conserve • reduce • recycle
Sweeping election law changes
proposed in state GOP Senate bills
Term limits for Georgia
lawmakers proposed in
General Assembly bill
