UA Professor Discusses SIDS
MSNBC – July 25
…Dr. Mark Feldman is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama: “We have to understand a few things about sudden infant death syndrome. One is that there is typically no warning sign…”
Alabama ranks among 15 states with a jobless rate of more than 10 percent
Birmingham News – July 27
…Sam Addy, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, said Alabama has 13.1 percent of its non-farm employees in manufacturing, compared to 9 percent for the entire United States. He said manufacturing has been hit hard, as other countries in this worldwide recession buy fewer exports and a weak housing market slows demand for lumber and other associated products. ”Anything that affects manufacturing affects us big time,” Addy said…
Montgomery Advertiser – July 25
Second gear: Is green the next color for Alabama auto industry?
Birmingham News – July 26
…One issue is uncertainty about the direction of the industry’s next-generation technology and how it will play in the market, said Jim Cashman, a University of Alabama management professor who has worked with the automotive industry…”Whatever (the new technology) is, the speed of that transition will be faster or slower based on the urgency that comes out of the price of oil,” Cashman said. “You could find yourself sitting out there with the most spectacular electric vehicle that nobody wants to buy because the price of oil has dropped to $30 a barrel.” Despite those risks, however, it’s crucial for the state to be in the mix to land such projects and help its existing auto industry evolve, he said. “If you’re not in that ball game at all, you’re ultimately going to lose that base of jobs,” Cashman said…
Foreclosures hit low-risk loans
Montgomery Advertiser – July 26
…Leonard Zumpano, a professor of real estate at the University of Alabama, said the current trend of foreclosures moving into the prime loan arena is especially troubling for the real estate market in Alabama. No longer can the state claim to be even moderately isolated from the root cause of the crisis. “The subprime crisis was limited to certain locations that had seen a great deal of home-price speculation,” he said. “That is really not the case in Alabama.” Unemployment is spread throughout the state, and that means the current round of foreclosures is widespread as well. “If those folks are laid off or lose their jobs, they can’t make their mortgage payments anymore,” he said. The trend is now particularly recent, Zumpano said. It has just reached a critical mass where it is impossible to ignore…
Hopeful Signs for Housing Construction
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – July 24
WAFF (Huntsville) – July 24
A new report from the University of Alabama provides hopeful signs for housing construction in the state. The Alabama Center for Real Estate reports 938 building permits for single-family home were issued in June. That’s a 31 percent increase from May.
First Class: Inaugural class of ACS Fellows honored for excellence in chemistry, service to society
Chemical and Engineering News – July 27
When it meets next month in Washington, D.C., the society will honor its first class of ACS Fellows. These 162 members “share a common set of accomplishments, namely true excellence in their contributions to the chemical enterprise coupled with distinctive service to ACS or to the broader world of chemistry,” says Immediate Past-President Bruce E. Bursten…A ceremony to recognize the fellows will be held on Monday, Aug. 17. Each person will receive a lapel pin and a certificate: Robin D. Rogers, University of Alabama…