Creating Longer-Lasting Concrete Girders
The Concrete Producer – Sept. 16
Finding ways to cut down on cost without sacrificing safety is always a challenge when it comes to infrastructure projects. Engineering researchers at the University of Alabama are finding ways to improve bridges to span longer distances and use fewer supports, while also trying to cut down on costs; and they could be onto something. Researchers are testing massive concrete grinders in a laboratory in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in collaboration with the Alabama Department of Transportation. The team designed and tested three different concrete girders focused on preventing small cracks that form at the end of concrete girders soon after they are created. Preventing these cracks from forming is crucial to ongoing safety concerns when these cracks become problematic over time and ruin longterm durability for the concrete. Solving this problem could help bridges last longer with a long-term cutdown on cost.
Phys.org – Sept. 16
Aggregate Research – Sept. 16
Enrollment up at UA
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Sept. 16
The University of Alabama is setting new records for how many students are enrolled.
Why school districts don’t require students to wear seat belts
Houston Chronicle – Sept. 16
The Houston Independent School District bus that fell off an overpass and killed two students was equipped with seat belts. But riders weren’t required to wear them. Now a discussion has turned to those safety belt regulations. The topic of seat belt use in school buses has been debated for decades. Studies show lap belts can provide a minor boost to safety on an already secure mode of transportation. But employing them would be cost-inefficient and difficult to enforce. “School buses are already safe” said Jay Lindly, director of the University Transportation Center for Alabama (UTCA) at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. “They’ll get a little bit safer if you put in seat belts.”
District Administration – Sept. 16
Even in One-Party States Like Alabama and North Carolina, Republicans Battle Over Budgets
Governing.com – Sept. 16
It looks like Alabama and North Carolina will both (finally) finish their budgets this week. What took them so long? In Alabama, the budget process stretched across six months and two special sessions. In North Carolina, the budget is more than two months overdue, resulting in the longest budget session in nearly two decades. It’s no mystery why budgets are still stalled in Illinois, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. In all those states, the governor belongs to a different party from the one that controls the legislature … “One faction believes that there simply isn’t enough money to meet the needs that government should meet,” said William Stewart, a retired University of Alabama political scientist. “Another faction believes we do have enough money, but we’re not dividing it up right, or we’re not efficiently spending the resources that we have.”
Stanford, MIT and Harvard top the inaugural Reuters Top 100 ranking of the most innovative universities
University Chronicle – Sept. 16
Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University top the inaugural Reuters Top 100 ranking of the world’s most innovative universities. The Reuters Top 100 ranking aims to identify which institutions contribute the most to science and technology, and have the greatest impact on the global economy. The ranking uses proprietary data and analysis tools from the Intellectual Property & Science division of Thomson Reuters to examine a series of patent and research-related metrics, and get to the essence of what it means to be truly innovative. How can potential partners, investors, faculty and students know if an institution is really transforming science and technology and affecting the global economy? To answer that question, Reuters set out to find and rank the world’s top 100 innovative universities, building a methodology that employs 10 different metrics. The criteria focused on academic papers, which indicate basic research performed at a university; and patent filings, which point to an institution’s interest in protecting and commercializing its discoveries.
Ethics Education in the PR Classroom
PRSA.org – Sept. 16
Ethics Month offers a superb opportunity to reflect on the role of public relations ethics in the lives of professionals and students alike. PRSA and PRSSA, along with their chapters throughout the country, offer a variety of ethics programs; so do many PR agencies, corporations, and nonprofits. But what about PR students in the classroom? In general, they’re receiving ethics instruction in all of their PR courses, based on the findings of a recent research study that I conducted with Dr. Karla Gower, director of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama, and Dr. Elmie Nekmat of the National University of Singapore. Our 2014 study was inspired by my work as chair of PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards. Members of BEPS wondered if students were studying ethics in their public relations courses, which courses, and how ethics is being taught.
Enrollment up at schools across Alabama
WHNT-CBS (Huntsville) – Sept. 16
Official enrollment numbers are in for the Fall semester at The University of North Alabama, and school leaders are proud to say UNA is breaking its own records. UNA isn’t the only university setting enrollment records. This week, the University of Alabama announced a record as well.
Maryland father rides bicycle to UA to see football game for deceased father
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 16
A Maryland man is making his way to Tuscaloosa from Charleston, South Carolina on his bicycle. Rocky Wagonhearst lost his daughter, Claire, to melanoma, just days after she was accepted at UA.
ESPN College Gameday Arrives
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Sept. 16
The Alabama Crimson Tide opens SEC play this weekend versus the Ole Miss Rebels. The game is attracting plenty of national attention including ESPN’s College Gameday.