Group wins business competition
Crimson White – April 22
A UA-based company took second place in the Alabama Launchpad Governor’s Business Plan Competition last week, winning $50,000 in seed capital. According to a UA press release, the IoLiTec Inc. team is made up of three members associated with the University in various capacities: Tom Beyersdorff, president; Rachel Frazier, a research engineer within the University’s Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs; and Whitney Hough, who holds a doctorate in chemistry and is pursuing a masters of business arts at the University. IoLiTec, Inc., which stands for Ionic Liquids Technologies, is a “specialty chemical company that will develop and distribute solutions of nanoparticles that provide safer and easier handling options,” according to its website, iolitec-usa.com. The company operates from Tuscaloosa and a site in Heilbronn, Germany…Dan Daly, Director of Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs at the University and an Alabama Launchpad Board Member, said the program was started after business leaders saw a need for entrepreneurial support in the state …
Students Send 39 Rockets Into Sunny Alabama Skies During Tenth Annual NASA Student Rocketry Challenge
NASA – April 22
…The 2010-11 NASA Student Launch Projects rocketry challenge drew more than 500 students from middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities in 23 states…Education Engagement Award: The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa team won for best inspiring the study of rocketry and other space-related topics. The team held 19 events during the current school year, reaching nearly 3,200 students in local classrooms and community groups. Collectively, this year’s teams reached more than 21,000 young people with presentations and exhibits about their rocket-building efforts.
Crimson White – April 22
Alabama law student starts pedicab company in Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa News – April 21
After observing pedicabs operating in other SEC university towns, Hunter Adams researched the business and decided to open a similar service in Tuscaloosa…Adams, a graduate of Hillcrest High School and the University of Alabama and now a second-year law student at UA, launched EasyRider Pedicab Co. in February. He said the business will focus on providing transportation for people who are barhopping or attending night-time events throughout Tuscaloosa…The pedicab is essentially a rickshaw powered by a driver on a modified bicycle. It has a padded seat mounted between two rear tires that has room for two to three people…Adams, 24, said he would like to have eight pedicabs available by the start of football season… “Our employees range from retired factory workers to mountain bikers to members of the (University of Alabama) cycling team …
Three ensembles to perform at Moody
Crimson White – April 22
…The Huxford Symphony Orchestra, University Singers and University Chorus will come together tonight at 7:30 in a concert that is free to the public…Friday’s concert will be the last opportunity to see University Singers before they leave for a concert tour in South Korea where they will be taking some of the Mozart they prepared for the misericordium …
County’s per capita personal income down for 2009
Gadsden Times – April 22
… Carolyn Trend, a socioeconomic analyst with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, said Etowah County’s smaller decline in per capita personal income compared to the state average in part could be linked to an increase in average monthly earnings during that period. The Census Bureau’s Local Employment Dynamics data series showed the average monthly earnings for jobs in Etowah County rose at a higher rate than the state increase. Trend said per capita income also reflects population changes and according to Census Bureau estimates, Etowah County grew at a lower rate than the rest of the state …
Economic Outlook: Agriculture
Birmingham Business Journal – April 22
2011 outlook: Agriculture production is expected to grow 1.4 percent in 2011, according to the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research …
Students have access to visual art
Crimson White – April 22
… Amy Feger and Aynslee Moon, both graduate students studying painting, have been displaying their MA thesis exhibitions in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery in Woods Hall since April 18. All students are welcome to view the gallery from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. until April 29. Tonight from 5-8, students will have a more exclusive opportunity to meet the artists. “It’s a chance for people to ask the artists questions and help celebrate their work,” Feger said. “Many people—including friends and family—will be seeing the work for the first time.”…
On the move
Birmingham News – April 22
… Dr. J. Michael Hardin, senior associate dean and professor of statistics at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, has been elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association. The designation is reserved for professionals in statistics who make outstanding contributions to the field …