Why a Speeding Shark is Like a Golf Ball
ABCNews.com – Nov. 11
…Some reports had also suggested that sharks can bristle their scales, causing them to stand up on end, so Amy Lang from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and colleagues decided to investigate whether this too could help sharks travel at high speeds.
The team created artificial shark skin with a 16 x 24 array of synthetic scales, each 2 centimetres in length and angled at 90° to the surface of the “skin”…
Gas prices continue to plummet
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 11
…Peter Clark, associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Alabama, said that relief is likely to last as long as the global economy remains depressed, a condition economic experts expect to last through 2009. But Clark said that the summer’s record oil and gas prices are unlikely to return even once the economy makes a full recovery. He said oil prices would probably settle between $90 to $110 a barrel after the recession ends. ‘$170 per barrel oil, in my opinion, was unsustainable,’ Clark said. ‘What had gotten it up there was speculation.’ Of greater concern to Clark is the very real chance that a return to moderate gas prices will derail the movement to smaller automobiles and higher fuel efficiency as it did after the 1970s oil crisis. ‘That’s the real danger here, that a lot of good work will be forgotten again because we’re not in the same bind,’ Clark said…
Education Briefs
Birmingham News – Nov. 11
Pauline Johnson, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at the University of Alabama, recently received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation though the Green Building Certification Institute with the support of the U.S. Green Building Council. — Jesse Huguet, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, was recently awarded the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Charles T. Main Student Section Silver Award, which recognizes student leadership and service. In addition, Huguet was presented with the Department of Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Graduate Seminar Presentation and received second place in the Society’s Old Guard technical poster competition. — Mark D. Nelson has been named vice president for student affairs and vice provost at the University of Alabama. Nelson has served as interim vice president for student affairs and vice provost for the past year and as assistant provost for academic affairs for the past two years.
Business Buzz
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 11
Kenneth J. Fridley, professor and head of civil construction and environmental engineering at the University of Alabama, has been elected as a governor of Region 5 of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Region 5…
UA Students Talk About “LITE”
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 10
University of Alabama students and faculty are working to improve literacy in Alabama…