University of Alabama building 3D virtual campus in Internet’s popular Second Life
Birmingham News – Nov. 10
…Some UA students next spring will begin attending class on a virtual campus being built on Second Life, a Web-based world that is part video game, part chat room, part busy main street. Visitors navigate the three-dimensional world using avatars, animated representations of themselves. Rick Houser, a professor in UA’s school of education who is helping to build the virtual campus, said graduate students in education next spring will be able to walk or fly their avatars into a classroom for a course called School, Culture and Society. It’s similar to traditional Web-based distance learning in that students can attend class from anywhere in the world. But it replicates a real-world classroom in three dimensions and offers much more potential. “In traditional online learning, you don’t have a chance to interact in the way you do with an avatar,” Houser said. “The potential is really great.”…
How a speeding shark is like a golf ball
Britain News.Net – Nov. 8
…sharks can raise their scales to create tiny wells across the surface of their skin, just like the dimples on a golf ball, reducing drag to reach high speeds in the water. According to a report in New Scientist, the finding was made by Amy Lang from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and colleagues…The team created artificial shark skin with a 16 x 24 array of synthetic scales, each 2 centimeters in length and angled at 90 degrees to the surface of the “skin”. They then placed the arrangement in a stream of water travelling at a steady 20 centimeters per second. The water contained silver-coated nanospheres, which a laser illuminated to reveal the nature of the flow around the scales. The experiments revealed that tiny vortices or whirlpools formed within the cavities between the scales…Ultimately, the team hope further investigations could be used to design torpedoes, underwater vehicles, and even aircraft inspired by shark skin that can move more quickly through water and change direction more easily.
Nelson named VP of student affairs
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 8
University of Alabama trustees removed the “interim” from Mark Nelson’s title Friday and, after more than a year in the role, Nelson is officially vice president of student affairs. “He has done an outstanding job across the board,” University of Alabama President Robert Witt told trustees in a Friday morning conference call. “He has made several re-organizational changes in student affairs that have significantly improved the quality and level of services for students.”…
BBC discusses race in Alabama during broadcast from Birmingham
Birmingham News – Nov. 8
The BBC broadcast live from Birmingham on Friday, a half-hour discussion of race in America during its international news show…Bryan Fair, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law…”Racism is still very central for life in America for African-Americans, and Barack Obama’s election doesn’t eliminate that,” said Fair. But, he added, Obama’s rise creates a sense of hope that the country is headed in the right direction…
City housing affordability continues
Huntsville Times – Nov. 8
Huntsville continues to be an affordable housing market, according to a University of Alabama report. During the third quarter, Huntsville’s affordability index, calculated by UA’s Center for Real Estate Research, was 180.1. Statewide, the affordability index was 154.4, based on a median family income of $51,700 and selling price of $139,591…
Education Briefs
Birmingham News – Nov. 9
Three individuals were inducted into the University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences Hall of Fame. The honorees are Nelle Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird;” the late James D. Ramer, founding dean of the UA School of Library and Information Studies; and the late H. Pettus Randall III, president and chairman of the board of Randall Publishing.
Education briefs
Birmingham News – Nov. 10
Paula C. Johnson, professor of law at Syracuse University who holds the John J. Sparkman Visiting Chair in the University of Alabama School of Law, will present “Civil Rights Cold Case Files: A Discussion of the Cold Case Justice Initiative and the Emmett Till Bill” Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. in Lecture Hall A of the Child Development Center. The lecture, a presentation of the UA Black Faculty and Staff Association, is free and open to the public.
Student briefs
Montgomery Advertiser – Nov. 9
The Alabama Law Foundation has chosen Cullen Brown the 2008 recipient of the William Verbon Black Scholarship. The award recognizes University of Alabama Law School students who show the promise of continuing Black’s leg¬acy of a stellar law career and strong character… — Karla L. Snipes of Montgomery was the subject of the University of Alabama Graduate School’s Student Spotlight for the month of October…