UA Engineering Professor Earns NSF Career Award

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. James P. Hubner, assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics at The University of Alabama, has been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. NSF’s CAREER Awards recognize top-performing young scientists and engineers who are beginning their careers.

Hubner has been awarded a five-year, $400,000 grant to advance his study of luminescence technology, which is the emission of light as a result of energy other than heat. Hubner’s primary objective is to expand the technology’s applications in the automotive and aircraft industries.

“Researchers use luminescence to develop techniques that can identify, among other effects, pressure and hot spots on aircraft, oxygen consumption on arterial walls, cancer in the human body and even the presence of chemical explosives,” said Hubner. “My research will lead to improvements in testing that can reduce cost and increase safety in automobiles and airplanes.”

The CAREER award is courtesy of NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development Program. NSF established the CAREER program in 1995 to help top performers, early in their careers, develop their commitment to research and education. CAREER award recipients are selected on the basis of creative, career-development plans that effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their institution.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has about 1,900 students and nearly 100 faculty. In the last seven years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.