Air quality toxic near several area schools
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 11
…A University of Alabama researcher questioned USA Today report’s methodology, saying that models such as the ones used in the report are “problematic” when used to determine actual air quality. “I’d be cautious about drawing conclusions from a report that says it used a screening model,” said Derek Williamson, director of the University of Alabama’s Atmospheric and Environmental Research Operations Laboratory, an environmental air research program. “To really know, you have to take samples.” Williamson said screening models are meant to point researchers to areas where high levels of pollution might occur…
Google puts Tuscaloosa on the map with photos
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 11
…the idea of such a service is eerie, said Marcus Brown, professor of computer science at the University of Alabama. There are genuine privacy issues involved in Street View, such as a situation in which Google’s camera car drives at random through a town and catches a person coming out of an adult bookstore who may not want the trip made public. Brown said the challenge for most people is getting used to having more personal information available on the Internet. “On the one hand, it makes life a lot easier, but we’re going to have to get used to the fact that people can find out all kinds of things of about us we may not necessarily want them to know,” Brown said. “It may not be bad things, like how often do you mow the lawn or blow the leaves.”…
Education Briefs
Birmingham News – Dec. 11
…Dr. Michael B.A. Oldstone, a National Academy of Sciences member and University of Alabama alumnus, has joined the UA faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. Oldstone, a leading expert on viral-immunobiology, has accepted an appointment as a professor and resident scholar in the department of biological sciences starting in the 2009-10 academic year.