One man’s trash … : Researchers hope to turn shrimp shells into useful products
Tuscaloosa News – July 19
University of Alabama chemist Robin Rogers imagines a future where shrimp shells could become more than a smelly seafood byproduct. “I believe in what I would call a chitin economy. I personally believe, if properly developed, the material you can develop from chitin and the markets you could sell them in would make the shrimp shell worth more than the meat,” said Rogers, an owner and founder of 525 Solutions, a startup company housed in UA’s Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs center on campus. The company, which is exploring a host of applications for chitin extracted from the shells, received roughly $1.5 million from U.S. Department of Energy to fund its research of a chitin-based absorbent material for use in a process to extract uranium from the ocean. The company previously proved the concept of using the chitin-based material for the application. Gabriela Gurau, a chemist and CEO of the UA-based company, said the company is in the process of signing the contract for the grant. “In our proposal, there is no way we as a small company can compete with terrestrial mining,” said Rogers, a Robert Ramsay Chair of Chemistry at UA and director of UA’s Center for Green Manufacturing. “We are not going to be a mining company. What we are going to do is develop chitin that is lower cost because we have other uses for the material.”
R&D Magazine – July 18
Watch the University of Alabama short that took top honors at world’s largest student film festival
Al.com – July 18
For the second year straight, a team of University of Alabama filmmakers took home top honors at Campus MovieFest, the largest student film festival in the world. The national CMF program, in its seventh year at UA, equips students with cameras and laptops for one week in January to film, edit and produce 5-minute films. “Wieder ‘Zam”, a film about an elderly man who remembers his service as an infantryman in WWII, won the Golden Tripod Award for Best Picture at the CMF awards in Hollywood last month. “His memories and regrets come rushing back as he recalls searching through an abandoned house after an enemy retreat. What he finds inside the aging hideout links both the past and the present,” Sean Dave, director and recent UA graduate, said in a UA release. “I had always wanted to create a WWII period piece since the war is essentially what brought my family to America, and, as a result, it played an integral role in my heritage.” “Wieder ‘Zam” was also an official selection in the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner in 2014, in addition to taking home top prizes at the Black Warrior Film Festival and the Auburn Indie Student Film Festival.
Three years after tornadoes, work remains on Alabama’s storm-preparedness to-do list
Anniston Star – July 18
More than three years after Alabama’s deadly tornado outbreak, nearly half the items on the state’s must-do list for severe weather preparedness remain unfinished — and there’s no timetable for completing the work. After the April 2011 storms killed 244 people across the state, Gov. Robert Bentley announced the creation of the Tornado Recovery Action Council. The now-disbanded panel proposed 20 recommendations for improving the state’s emergency response tactics in January 2012. According to Bentley’s office, only 13 of them have been completed so far. Lawmakers, including Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh of Anniston, said they were unaware of the proposals, but would be willing to work with the governor to get the remaining initiatives passed … Richard Fording, professor and chair in the University of Alabama’s department of political science, said the recommendations are competing with many other proposals that crowd the legislative agenda each year. “I don’t know if Gov. Bentley has made a significant effort to push these proposals in the Legislature,” Fording said in an email. “He may be choosing to use his limited political capital for other priorities.” Fording said that other unfulfilled recommendations would impose significant costs on one party or another — for example, a change to construction codes leads to increased costs for builders. “Mandates from state government are generally not welcomed by local governments, especially when they do not come with funding,” Fording added.
Cullman tied for second in lowest unemployment rate statewide
Cullman Times – July 19
The governor’s office released the June 2014 unemployment rate numbers Friday, showing that the statewide unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 percent. In Cullman County, the rate was 5.7 percent, tied for second-best of the 67 counties, along with Baldwin County near Mobile. Shelby County topped the list at 5 percent. All rates are seasonally adjusted for dramatic changes unique to parts of the year. The summer months are particularly adjusted for education because many teachers do not return to the classroom until fall. Cullman’s rate was nearly a point better than last year’s June 2013 unemployment rate. However, as with most counties, the rate rose six-tenths of a percent from last month’s rate of 5.1 percent, due in large part to the influx of new graduates entering the workforce … University of Alabama economist Ahmad Ijaz said he was not surprised to see Alabama benefitting from manufacturing. “One great thing for Alabama is the automotive industry,” Ijaz said. “Those are high-wage jobs, and they’re usually not part-time or temporary positions.” According to Ijaz, the leisure and hospitality growth is curious but not unheard of. “The leisure and hospitality sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the U.S. economy, not just Alabama,” he said. “Despite restaurants reporting weak sales, they’re still hiring.”
Primary season by the numbers: Big shift to GOP
Montgomery Advertiser – July 19
When campaign season came, Alabama’s politicians opened their wallets and shook out tens of millions of dollars, spreading the wealth in the state and around the country. Driven by high-profile challenges in the Republican primaries, and a major push against GOP incumbents by the Alabama Education Association, politicians and political organizations spent $34.3 million on direct campaign expenditures between Jan. 1 and July 14, according to campaign finance records. Organizations also reported $14 million in campaign contributions to candidates and parties … Whether that amount of spending will continue through the fall election remains to be seen. If spending was high for the primaries and runoffs, it was because Democrats will be hard-pressed to mount effective campaigns against Republicans in the fall. “The Democratic Party is just in bad shape,” said Bill Stewart, a professor emeritus at the University of Alabama. “There’s no way to get around it. Since their candidates are not strongly contending for the seats they’re running for, groups that have money are not interested in throwing their money away on a sure loser.”