Expert on Chemical Origins of Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases to Speak at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Carol K. Hall, Camille Dreyfus Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, will present the Chemical and Biological Engineering Centennial Lecture at The University of Alabama’s College of Engineering on Oct. 7.

Hall’s topic will be “Thermodynamic and Kinetic Origins of Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases: A Chemical Engineer’s Perspective.” She will speak at 11 a.m. in room 1092 Shelby Hall.

Hall’s research includes the study of fibrils, which are protein aggregates found in plaques within the brain that are associated with more than 20 neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Hall received her Bachelor of Arts in physics from Cornell University and her doctorate in physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She joined the chemical engineering department at Princeton University in 1977 as one of the first women to be appointed to a chemical engineering faculty in the U.S. In 1985 she joined the chemical engineering department at North Carolina State University.

She is the author of more than 190 publications, is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and of the American Physical Society, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005. She is a member of the AIChE Board of Directors.

Founded in 1910, the UA department of chemical and biological engineering is currently celebrating its 100^th anniversary.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 2,700 students and more than 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.