o benefit wildlife while giving students hands-on experience, the Fish and Game Preserve Management program at Swainsboro Tech is partnering with the Duck Conservation Society, a group concerned with the conservation and proper management of wood ducks and their habitat.

Wood ducks nest in holes made in trees, but they can’t make these cavities. To compensate for the lack of available holes, wildlife managers use artificial ones, called wood duck boxes, where the wood ducks can nest and raise young in spring.

Funded by a grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Swainsboro Tech and the Duck Conservation Society are installing and monitoring wood duck boxes. Some 750 boxes currently are being monitored.

The monitoring process involves collecting data used to make decisions about management and population trends. Also, the data is summarized in an annual report submitted to the DNR.

Through this effort, wildlife experts can learn about the reproductive strategies of the wood duck and how a good management program can help restore the numbers of a once-endangered species.

e often say that technical education has a global reach, but Atlanta Tech student Dr. Salahuddin Sayedi is living proof.

A native of Afghanistan, Sayedi is a respected expert in Islamic law and the Arabic and Farsi languages. He has been quoted in the international press on everything from the Taliban to the new Karzai government in Afghanistan. And he has written articles for the major newspaper of the Czech Republic.

Recently, the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Education published a five language, 840-page dictionary that Sayedi created to assist individuals from Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan in understanding the Czech language.

Sayedi, a lawyer and foreign relations specialist, is at Atlanta Tech to improve his English. He knows that once his English skills are strengthened, he can continue his scholarly and professional endeavors in the United States.
 

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