UA Engineering Professor Receives Grant for Robotic Prosthesis
OandP.com – May 9
Xiangrong Shen, PhD, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in The University of Alabama (UA), Tuscaloosa, College of Engineering, has received a $424,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award to further his work on a robotic prosthesis that could help individuals with amputations walk better. Shen’s approach to robotic prostheses uses rocket fuel, a compound monopropellant, to power an artificial muscle. The use of this fuel allows for a lightweight prosthesis that stores enough energy to operate for daily use. This pneumatic system replaces the motor used in current powered prostheses. Shen said his system is proving to be lighter, more powerful, and more compact than current designs. He has successfully demonstrated the basic concept of the actuator and how to use it to drive a robotic joint, but said more research remains before testing can begin. “This is a relatively new system,” Shen said. “There are some problems in putting the prosthesis into clinical use because the components of the prosthesis are still being developed. In our research, the long-term goal is to develop powered prostheses with comparable appearance and functionality as human limbs.”
Ex-Crimson Tide player Andre Royal comes back to graduate
Tuscaloosa News – May 10
Since the end of his career in the National Football League, Andre Royal has spent years working with youth, trying to be a mentor and a role model. One of his strongest messages was to stay in school, but the former Tuscaloosa County High School and University of Alabama football standout always had a fear: that they would find out that he never graduated from UA. Royal, 41, doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. After three long semesters back in school, he completed work on his degree in criminology, with a minor in sociology, and last weekend graduated almost two decades after he left for the NFL. “I work with so many kids in camps and coaching little league football and high school football, I preach it a lot,” he said. “Every time I said it to a kid, that was in my head: I hope one of these kids doesn’t ask me, ‘Coach Royal, do you have your degree?’ That’s not a fear anymore.
Chapter selects Knowles for 2014 scholarship
Clanton Advertiser – May 9
The Chilton County Chapter of the University of Alabama National Alumni Association selected Kelcie Knowles as the 2014 recipient of the Judy Melton Mims Memorial Endowed Scholarship. Knowles, 18, is a graduating senior at Chilton County High School and will attend the University of Alabama in the fall, where she plans to major in pre-law and minor in business. The chapter established the scholarship in 2009 with the help of a significant contribution made by Mims’ husband, Troy Mims. The scholarship endowment bears Judy’s name as a tribute to her 32 years of service in education and her reputation as a lifelong Alabama fan. She passed away in September 2008 after a long battle with cancer. The scholarship is a way to help young people to further their education, which was one of her goals for all of her students. The recipient each year must be an incoming freshman at UA and a graduate of a Chilton County school. Troy presented Knowles with a certificate Friday recognizing her as this year’s recipient. “She’s an outstanding applicant, outstanding student and outstanding person,” Mims said of Knowles. “[She] will represent our chapter and our endowment, and that’s what we want.”
Higher wage has harmful consequences
Montgomery Advertiser – May 9
Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once said, “…one of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” The federal minimum wage is no exception to Friedman’s maxim. Last month, President Obama signed an executive order to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for federal contract workers. This move followed the president’s January State of the Union Address, where he stated his willingness to make national economic policy decisions with or without the approval of Congress. The president and many of his liberal allies are firm believers that an increase in the federal minimum wage would stimulate the economic recovery our country needs. According to the Obama administration, raising the minimum wage is an important step towards ensuring working families stay out of poverty and helping lower-income workers “keep up in the future.” (Bradley Tipper is a student at the University of Alabama and an intern with the Alabama Policy Institute. Send email to bradleyt@alabamapolicy.org.)
COLLEGE NEWS: May 11
Tuscaloosa News – May 11
University of Alabama … Allison Kirkley Gunter, the daughter of Ray and Gayle Kirkley, wife of Christopher D Gunter and mother of Jackson D Gunter of Tuscaloosa, has recently become a member of Phi Sigma Theta National Honor Society.
Postal food drive is Saturday
Tuscaloosa News – May 9
Postal workers will collect nonperishable food for local food banks Saturday. The National Association of Letter Carriers sponsors the annual food drive every second Saturday in May. Residents are asked to place nonperishable food items in a bag near their mailboxes. The drive is the second-biggest food drive for the West Alabama Food Bank. Only the annual University of Alabama-Auburn University food drive in the fall collects more. Postal workers collected about 40,000 pounds of food for the West Alabama Food Bank last year that was distributed to about 80 local charities in nine West Alabama counties.