UA team has cleanup role
Tuscaloosa News – June 12
Fueled by a federal grant, scientists from the University of Alabama are researching a method to hasten the cleanup of coastal areas contaminated by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The research team is led by Behzad Mortazavi, assistant professor of biological sciences, and Patricia Sobecky, a professor and chair of UA’s Department of Biological Sciences. Mortazavi said the aim of the year-long research program is to increase the rate at which organisms, in essence, “eat” the oil. “We know that there are microbes in the ocean that can naturally degrade oil,” said Mortazavi, who is also director of the university’s master’s degree program in marine science. “What we’d like to do is speed up their metabolism to break down the oil.” The team, working from UA’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab, is collecting samples of water from the Gulf. Once that’s done, the researchers will test their methods in the lab, and the most effective microbes and organisms will then be tried in the field…The research is being funded by the National Science Foundation’s Rapid Response Research program, which awarded the $125,000, one-year grant to UA earlier this month …
Library program moves from Auburn University to University of Alabama location
Birmingham News – June 11
The Alabama Center for the Book, an affiliate of a Library of Congress program that promotes literacy, is moving from Auburn University to the University of Alabama. The center, perhaps best known in the state for creating the annual Alabama Book Festival, will keep most of the programs that were started during its time at Auburn, but will change its focus, said Louis Pitschmann, dean of libraries at UA. The center will begin working with “book artists,” or printers and binders, he said, and it will examine the role of books in the digital age …
Fallout from GOP recount expected to be minimal
Montgomery Advertiser – June 13
…David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, agrees with Finley and does not believe there will be a damaging long-term effect on Republicans. “By August, everybody is going to forget the recount,” he said.
Lanoue said he believes whoever wins the nomination “will be in pretty good shape.”
There are concerns with a runoff though, he said. “The first is you are going to have to spend a lot of money. You have to spend a lot of money to get through the primary, and you have to spend more to win the runoff. “That is money you have to go and try to raise again, and that is money you can’t spend beating the Democrats.”…
Many votes up for grabs in GOP runoff
Tuscaloosa News – June 14
… Chris Roberts, a University of Alabama professor of journalism and an expert in database analysis, said he did “some number crunching” of the preliminary results of the June 1 voting and found that the nomination will be up for grabs in the runoff. “In a case where the leader didn’t even reach 30 percent and the second-place finisher was less than 3 percent behind, you’d have to say that they go into the runoff pretty much even,” said Roberts, a former technology reporter at The Birmingham News …
Hispanic population in Ala. higher than initially estimated
Birmingham Business Journal – June 11
Newly-released revised Census Bureau data shows Alabama’s 2009 Hispanic population was 152,516, up nearly 18,000 from its initial estimate. Jefferson County’s Hispanic population was estimated to be more than 23,600 out of 665,027 total residents, according to a University of Alabama news release …
Birmingham Water Works prepares for new growth
Birmingham News – June 14
… Populations in counties served by the Water Works are expected to grow by several percentage points in the next 15 years, according to information from the Alabama State Data Center at the University of Alabama. The utility serves customers in Jefferson, Shelby, Blount, Walker and St. Clair counties. “The leadership in those counties need to be looking ahead to the infrastructure needs of the future,” said Annette Watters, manager of the data center …
College News
Tuscaloosa News – June 14
Natalie Peeples, daughter of Gregory and Victoria Peeples of Tuscaloosa, completed an internship in the Washington office of U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa…Peeples is a student at the University of Alabama where she is pursuing a degree in communications. The West Alabama chapter of the American Society of Women Accountants recently awarded two $1,000 scholarships to UA students…Ben Pockstaller of Centreville was awarded a $1,250 scholarship from the Alabama Power Foundation…
The German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has selected UA professor Arunava Gupta, a professor of chemistry and chemical and biological engineering, for its Humboldt Research Award. The award was given in recognition of his exceptional and sustained contributions to research on magnetism and superconductivity of oxide-based materials …
Miss Alabama results
Birmingham News – June 12
… others in the top 11 were Miss Chattahoochee Valley Taylor Yates, Miss Jefferson County Anna Laura Bryan, Miss Point Mallard Meredith Ervin, Miss Wiregrass Area Jaye Herrod, Miss Painted Rock Courtney Porter, Miss Phenix City KeLeigh Edwards, Miss Center Point Susannah Higgins, Miss University of Alabama Shellie Street, Miss Metro Montgomery Brittany Finley and Miss Covered Bridge Stephanie Shelton.