UA professor, student measure intensity of helmet impacts during collisions
Tuscaloosa News – April 12
The crack of football helmets is a distinct sound and one that a University of Alabama mechanical engineering professor and his student believe could be analyzed as part of a less costly method of measuring the severity of impacts on the field. UA sophomore Brandon McChristian and UA mechanical engineering professor Steve Shepard, began working last fall on a series of experiments to prove a direct correlation between the sound helmets make when they collide and the energy of the impact. “Each helmet when there is an impact force will respond differently with the force. … If we understand that and fully characterize all of those relations, then we can measure the sounds,” Shepard said. “And now we can determine what was the force that caused the sounds and where it occurred on the helmet.” They both say the technology could help monitor for concussions in the future. “We are not going to be diagnosing concussions, we are going to be saying this is the level of impact,” Shepard said.
Baseball Archaeological Dig
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – April 12
When you think of historic Rickwood Field, you probably think of baseball. But for a team of University of Alabama researchers, it’s what’s underneath the field that interests them. They are looking for any type of memorabilia or objects that might have fallen through the bleachers over the years. They’re looking to shed light on one of the darker eras of Alabama history, segregation. They’re looking for a window into the past. They dig, scrape and sort all in the shadows of one of America’s most historic ballparks. Dr. Virgil Beasley is leading the team of University of Alabama archaeologists as the look into the world of segregation and how it intertwined and sometimes collided with the world of baseball. The group’s thesis revolves around the idea, that despite social constraints, baseball was an equalizer. The team is digging where the outfield bleachers once stood, and where African Americans were once forced to sit. They’re looking for buttons, jewelry, personal items…anything to shed a light on the past and how people went out to the ballgame.
UA team to study wheelchairs
Crimson White – April 13
An Alabama professor and her assistant researchers are working to re-design wheelchairs for children in need in a study recently approved by the Institutional Review Board. One of the main goals of the study is to partner with Tuscaloosa city and county schools, helping children in wheelchairs by equipping them with educational tools. The researchers will also adjust the chairs to the children’s needs so they are easier to maneuver. Margaret Stran, an assistant professor and associate director of the Adaptive Athletics Program, said she knows the importance of a well-fitting chair from personal experience. At 16 years old, Stran received her first wheelchair. She now has a custom-made $8,000 chair. “The difference between my new chair and old one is truly life changing,” she said. “Suddenly you can get places you couldn’t go before and go faster. My chair probably weighs around 15 pounds as opposed to my first chair that weighed around 25 pounds. The weight of the chair makes such a huge difference.”
Child abuse and maltreatment costing Ala. billions
Montgomery Advertiser – April 11
Each year, 9,000 children fall victim to child abuse or neglect in Alabama and it’s costing the state billions of dollars in services, according to new research conducted and released by the College of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Alabama. This week, for Child Abuse Prevention Month, members of the Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention stood outside the Alabama State House during a conference where they released a report titled, “The Cost of Child Maltreatment to the Alabama Economy.” The report outlines areas of abuse and the costs associated with each for 2013. A report had not been conducted in eight years, according to Sallye Longshore, executive director of ADCANP. Child maltreatment cost the state $2.3 billion in 2013 in order to help with the child welfare system, special education, juvenile delinquency, mental health care and others.
Law School Honors Fellow Classmate
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 11
Students and faculty honored one of their own who passed away one year ago on April 12th. Dominic DeSimone died at age 24 from a motorcycle wreck. Friends of DeSimone say he loved fitness and always encouraged everyone around him. Close friends created a workout in his honor called “DomFit” and also participated in the workout on April 11th. The students along with the help of the University of Alabama Law School worked to raise money for a scholarship in DeSimone’s name. If $10,000 is raised, the scholarship will go into a Trust and help aid law school students. If you would like more information on how to donate, you can visit, www.law.ua.edu/Dominic.
UA hosts Health Fair at Holt Elementary School
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 11
Members of the Holt community believe there’s a need for more health awareness in their area. This morning, Holt Elementary School hosted a health fair organized by The University of Alabama and the Holt community. They offered health screenings free of charge for the whole community. This was the first health fair in the Holt community. Organizers hope that it will become an annual event.
Group aims to solve stray cat problem in Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa News – April 12
Members of a nonprofit Tuscaloosa group believe they have a solution to a persistent problem: stray cats. The Tuscaloosa Spay and Neuter Initiative Program, known as TSNIP, sought a more humane and lasting alternative to having feral cats captured by local animal control officers and then euthanized. Lucy Roberts, a local veterinarian who helped found TSNIP in 2013, said the group aims to control the feral cat population in Tuscaloosa County with a program that involves trapping the cats, spaying or neutering them and then releasing them. “It’s better for the city, and it’s better for the cats,” Roberts said. “Cats who have been fixed aren’t as big of a problem.” … SNIP has also paired with Davis-Emerson Middle School and Central High School to get the youth involved in civic outreach. A total of 25 students are involved in various projects to raise awareness for the organization and the animals’ plight. “We believe a partnership is the only way to succeed,” said Jeff Parker, TSNIP’s education outreach director and a psychology professor at the University of Alabama.
Alabama’s civic challenge: Turn neighborliness into public action
Al.com – April 13
This week, the David Mathews Center for Civic Life, University of Alabama’s New College, Auburn University’s College of Liberal Arts, and the National Conference on Citizenship are releasing the 2015 Alabama Civic Health Index. Three key indicators are explored in the Alabama Civic Health Index: political action, social connectedness, and public work. Each indicator includes both formal and informal measures of engagement that spotlight Alabama’s civic strengths and highlight areas for improvement. Examined together, the three indicators illustrate how Alabamians engage in their communities, connect with each other, and work together to solve community problems. The findings in this report show that civic life in Alabama is thriving in several key areas. Alabamians demonstrate strong social connectedness with family and friends. They exchange favors with neighbors frequently and give charitably at high rates.
Former professional dancer now dance professor
Crimson White – April 13
Rita Snyder has transitioned from a student of dance to a professional dancer, and now to a professor of dance in the University’s department of theatre and dance. With a master’s in dance from the University of Utah and 10 years of professional dance experience under her belt, she has set out to inspire the next generation of dancers here on campus. Q: What were you drawn to about dancing? A: Part of it was the physicality of it. I was always a tomboy, I liked to tumble and things like that. I saw a movie of Gene Kelly’s when I was in middle school – “The Pirate” – and I thought, “That’s what I want to do.” When you are a kid, sometimes you see something and it just connects, and when I saw Gene Kelly, I just thought, “I want to do that.” Q: What is the best and the worst part of being a professor? A: Maybe I’m biased, but we have some very talented, intelligent students who do really smart work. I love to see the improvement, especially students who don’t have much background in dance, who may have come from small towns, who struggle as freshmen to keep up. They keep going and they get focused and you see them at the end of their junior year and into their senior year and they have blossomed into this beautiful creature! And then they leave! And that is one of the sad and hard parts.
COLLEGE NEWS: April 12
Tuscaloosa News – April 12
University of Alabama – The following local residents recently were initiated into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines: Cottondale: Kaylan Jackson. Gainesville: Sylvia Turner. Northport: Tommie Syx and Emily Walker. Tuscaloosa: Amber Bara, Laurel Billings, Amy Blood, Katharine Drake, Cassidy Ellis, Alex Heatherly, Logan Holley, Paul Landry, Kathryn McMahon, William Morgan, Meridith Rice, Carson Roberts, Bryan Sexton, Alexander Tankersley, Jenae Yarborough and Samwel Oyier Zephaniah. Winfield: Makenzie Mann. These residents are among around 32,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, taking at least 72 semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.