Roto-tilt chair to help study inner ear problems at the University of Alabama
Birmingham News – Oct. 29
…UA is about a year into working with its “roto-tilt” chair, “an experimental device that inventors say may break ground in research on vertigo and a host of other inner ear conditions…Craig Formby, a professor in the department of communicative disorders and a designer of the chair, said the concept is not new. A variety of spinning “secretarial” chairs have long been used in such research. But this is believed to be the first chair capable of so many different kinds of motion. It moves in three planes — providing yaw, roll and pitch — and it spins like a top. “No one had taken it to this extreme before,” Formby said…Engineering Professor Keith Williams uses a computer to monitor a subject’s eye movement while she’s strapped into the chair…UA and the NIH have spent more than half a million dollars on the chair in hope that it will help researchers better understand conditions such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, a disorder in which dizziness is caused by a moving of the head.
Audiologyonline.com –Oct. 28
UA ROTC is ready to ride
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 29
Three Black Hawk helicopters turned heads Wednesday as they flew into Tuscaloosa and landed on the University of Alabama’s recreational fields in front of about 100 UA Army ROTC cadets and cadre. The cadets practiced loading and safe landing procedures in preparation for traveling in the helicopters on Friday to attend a training exercise at Camp McClellan near Anniston, said Jessica Sewell, a 19-year-old cadet and UA student…Maj. Steve Sayers said that the ROTC conducts two field training exercises every year. This year, he contacted the National Guard and put in a request for aerial transportation to the exercise. “We always like to get cadet exposure for different parts of the military,” Sayers said…On Friday morning, five Black Hawks will fly into Tuscaloosa at 8 a.m. to pick up half the cadets, returning at 11 a.m. for the others. There will be 80 cadets and nine cadres attending the camp…
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 27
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Oct. 27
First-generation students talk
Selma Times-Journal – Oct. 29
Eleven students from the University of Alabama visited Selma High School Wednesday to encourage students to strive to attend college, and to share advice about applying to the Coca-Cola First Generation Scholars Program at Alabama. The program offers the first-generation college students a $5,000 scholarship, renewed for four years, if the students maintain a 3.0 grade point average. Only 12 students are accepted into the program each year. “They have a very high standard for the students,” said Dianne Teague, UA Student Support Services. “But (University of Alabama) President (Dr. Robert E.) Witt is committed to bring scholarship money to first-generation college students.”
ALLELE lecture on ‘Darwin’s Ventriloquists’ scheduled for tonight
Crimson White – Oct. 29
The UA community will have the opportunity to hear from noted biological anthropologist Jonathon Marks tonight at 7:30 in the Biology building auditorium. Marks’ lecture, titled “Darwin’s Ventriloquists,” is part of the 2009-2010 Alabama Lectures on Life’s Evolution, known as ALLELE. “Darwin’s Ventriloquists” is about what Marks calls “inappropriate use of race and genetics in medicine.”…According the ALLELE series Web site, the lecture series has been funded by private gifts to the University by Lou Perry of La Jolla, Calif., Eric Hopkins of Austin, Texas and The Barbara and Frank Peters Foundation of Corona del Mar, Calif.
Blackburn hosts alternative energy forum
Crimson White – Oct. 29
The Blackburn Institute and the College of Engineering will host Alabama alumnae Linda Blevins, an adviser for the U.S. Department of Energy, as the keynote speaker for the Gloria and John L. Blackburn Academic Symposium on Friday at 8 a.m. The symposium, titled “A Hole in your Pocket: Our Energy Crisis and Alternative Fuel Solutions,” will be held in Sellers Auditorium at the Bryant Conference Center and is free to the public…
State will not soon rebound from recession
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 29
…The director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama said Tuesday that moving into the top 10 has a psychological impact, especially for those who have been unemployed for a long period of time and may be beginning to believe their search for work is futile. ‘It has a dampening effect on morale,’ CBER Director Sam Addy said, adding that although the recession was slower to come to Alabama than many other states, when it got here, it did so with a vengeance. ‘We got into the recession later, but the effect was much greater,’ he said…
Birmingham-area gas prices surging at time when typically they fall
Birmingham News – Oct. 29
…A 25 percent spike in the price of crude oil since mid-September is mostly to blame for the surprise advance, said Peter Clark, a University of Alabama chemical engineering professor who follows the energy markets. “Crude oil accounts for 40 to 50 percent of the price of gasoline, so naturally the cost of filling up is rising,” he said Wednesday…
UA Student Athletes Hold Annual Halloween Extravaganza
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 28
…Tonight, trick or treaters…meet some University of Alabama athletes, the annual Halloween extravaganza…play games with the athletes…
UA will host international fashion show tonight
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 29
Tonight, the place for haute couture won’t be Paris or Milan, but the University of Alabama, which will host its first international fashion show. Organized by the UA International Student Association, the show, titled “High Couture Fashion Show: Fashion is Art” will feature designs by international students and professional designers, as well as a musical performance by Universal R&B artist K-Style and dance performances by UA’s Riptide hip-hop dance team. Chevel Bess, president of the International Student Association, said the event is one of several fundraisers planned for the association’s Quest for Advancement program, which will send 20 students to Belize next year to build a school for impoverished kids…
State Bar will conduct free legal clinic today at Focus
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 29
The Alabama State Bar will conduct a free legal clinic from 1-4 p.m. today at Focus on Senior Citizens…Volunteer lawyers and law students from the University of Alabama School of Law will prepare advanced health-care directives — also known as living wills — powers of attorney and simple wills for clients, and will also provide guidance on bankruptcies, foreclosures and other legal issues…
UA event emphasizes quick, cheap artwork
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 29
In the early ’70s, students created fast and loose art inspired by the unusual name, and what they imagined a real-life “Ed Flesh” might be like. On Friday, 13 current students will revive the idea, crafting objects in an hour from materials costing $50 or less. The artists had a month to prepare, but all creation will take place between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., with installation that afternoon, and the opening and closing reception from 6-9 p.m. Friday…