Researchers: Alabama’s economic output should expand in 2012
Birmingham News – Feb. 7
Alabama’s economy will expand by about 2.5 percent this year, with job gains for heavy manufacturers and service providers, according to a forecast issued today by researchers at the University of Alabama. The university’s Center for Business and Economic Research says the state should add about 20,000 jobs in 2012, expanding the nonfarm employment base by 1.1 percent. Most of those gains will be in services, retail, metals and transportation equipment manufacturing, including automakers. “Large manufacturing and services employers will be the major economic drivers in 2012,” the center’s report notes.
Science Olympiad at UA to host more than 500 students for regional competition
AL.com – Feb. 6
The University of Alabama is expecting more than 500 middle and high school students to compete on campus in hands-on projects and games in the 2012 Alabama Regional Science Olympiad on Feb. 18. Science Olympiad, a national nonprofit organization focused on improving science education, holds more than 240 regional and state tournaments as well as a national tournament that give more than 12,000 students the chance to learn about different scientific disciplines and compete in events. Events for middle school students range from building model aquifers to conducting a crime scene investigation. High school participants will have the chance to learn about microbes and diseases and to design homemade rockets made from plastic bottles.
UA College of Business receives high ranking
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 6
The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse School of Accountancy is receiving high honors for their accounting program. The 2011 public accounting report named the undergraduate program 20th in the nation.
Researchers uncover a mechanism to explain dune field patterns
Science Daily – Feb. 7
In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. The new work represents a contribution to basic science, but the findings may also hold implications for identifying when dune landscapes like those in Nebraska’s Sand Hills may reach a “tipping point” under climate change, going from valuable grazing land to barren desert. The study was conducted by Douglas Jerolmack, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science; postdoctoral researcher Federico Falcini; graduate students Raleigh Martin, Colin Phillips and Meredith Reitz; and undergraduate researcher Claire Masteller. The Penn researchers also collaborated with Ryan Ewing of the University of Alabama and Ilya Buynevich of Temple University.
Gov. Bentley’s first year marked by lower unemployment, HB 56
Crimson White – Feb. 7
Many people questioned whether Governor Robert Bentley, a retired dermatologist and University of Alabama graduate, could do the job. After a year in office, leaders across Alabama are beginning to evaluate his decisions and early legacy. . . . Stephen Borrelli, a professor of political science at Alabama, believes that Bentley has made his share of rookie mistakes, but also believes that he has surprised many. “He’s managed to survive a tumultuous year in state politics that might have overwhelmed a lesser governor,” Borrelli said…April 27 was Bentley’s hundredth day in office. On that day, 62 tornadoes touched down in Alabama in a historical severe-weather outbreak that killed more than 250 people. Bentley sprung into action and was instrumental in the response, refusing to allow FEMA to take control. “I think many Alabamians appreciated that,” said Richard Fording, the chair of UA’s political science department. “Most everyone agrees that his post-tornado leadership has been exemplary. His coordination with Federal and local officials has shown that there would be none of the finger-pointing, bureaucratic SNAFUS and partisan conflict that marred the government response to Katrina in Louisiana.”
Capitol park is rich in Tuscaloosa, University history
Crimson White – Feb. 7
A member of the legislature once discussed Alabama law with his colleague in his office, and a young woman studied mathematics down the hall. In the main rotunda downstairs, UA professor Frederick A. P. Barnard once tinkered with his Foucault pendulum, and a young couple said, “I do” a few yards away…From the site of the Alabama state capitol to Alabama Central Female College to a public green space, Capitol Park is an important part of Tuscaloosa’s history…When the state capital was moved to more centralized Montgomery in 1847, the old capitol building was deeded to the University of Alabama and remained an important part of the Tuscaloosa community. Barnard was one of the few who used the capitol building during the 10 years following the capital move. He began the building’s use for education by doing experiments with Foucault pendulums, devices that demonstrated the rotation of the earth. In 1857, the educational usage of the building continued when UA leased the property to the Alabama Central Female College. The first class graduated in 1859. In 1923, an intense fire burned the capitol beyond ability to salvage it…Thrift Foundation, Inc. purchased the site from UA in 1988 and gave it to the city of Tuscaloosa for development.
Key to weight loss: create a ‘calorie deficiency’ with workouts
Crimson White – Feb. 7
From running to swimming, cardio encompasses a variety of activities that get your heart pumping and your body producing buckets of sweat all while maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. . . . Simply eat smart and exercise regularly. Easier said than done, right? The University of Alabama’s Student Recreational Center makes working out a little more fun than Jillian Michaels’ workout videos do. The SRC offers group exercise classes such as Zumba, indoor cycle and many other aerobic classes. Drag a friend along to make fun of them trying to keep up. What better way to make exercising fun? . . . “If losing weight is your goal and you have only 20 to 30 minutes, go as hard as you can,” said Dr. John Jackson, assistant director of Fitness and Research at UA’s SRC. “Keep your heart rate elevated for an extended period of time.”
UA, AU students teach creative arts to inmates
Crimson White – Feb. 7
Behind the locked doors, fences and walls of Alabama’s prisons, students from both Auburn University and the University of Alabama are working with inmates to create art. The Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project, operated out of Auburn University, offers select prisons classes in visual arts, poetry, creative writing, literature, history and other courses in the arts and humanities. Often, the classes are taught by graduate students in their respective program. Since 2002, the Project has grown from a single poet teaching in a single prison to a group of teachers from multiple universities teaching 120 to 150 combined students across six different facilities.
Recovery campaign aims to replace trees destroyed by tornado
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 7
Northern Alabama communities stripped of their trees by the April 2011 tornadoes will soon be given the opportunity to replace them courtesy of the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign, sponsored by the Alabama Forestry Commission and Arbor Day Foundation. Standing in the parking lot where Mike and Ed’s Barbecue once stood, Neil Letson, assistant division director of forest management for the Alabama Forestry Commission, announced Monday that 16 north Alabama communities would be collectively receiving over 30,000 trees this month, including Tuscaloosa. . . . Linda Jackson, a communication specialist at the University of Alabama’s School of Medicine, spoke to the crowd at the press conference on behalf of Tuscaloosa residents affected by the tornado. Her house was severely damaged by the tornado, but she found herself more distressed at the loss of the trees in her yard, including some irreplaceable 300-year-old oaks. “Alabama loves its trees,” Jackson said, “and it won’t be the same in our neighborhoods till we have some shade.”
Crimson White – Feb. 7