MONDAY, AUG. 21 – SUNDAY, AUG. 27
UA VIEWING SOLAR ECLIPSE – Tuscaloosa is set for a partial eclipse Aug. 21. Dr. Dean Townsley, associate professor of physics and astronomy, will have equipment to project a sun image and a table with eclipse viewing glasses, for UA students, on the Quad from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also, glasses will be available for freshmen attending the Yea Alabama kickoff BBQ on the Quad, held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact Adam Jones, communications, at 205-348-4328 or adam.jones@ua.edu.
RESEARCH
TO HELP UTILITIES, RESEARCHERS SEEK ANCIENT FLOODS NEAR TENNESSEE RIVER – With funding from energy utilities, a team of researchers at UA is collaborating with peers across the Southeast to understand the frequency and possible size of floods along the Tennessee River that pre-date reliable weather and streamflow records. For more information, contact Adam Jones, communications, at 205-348-4328 or adam.jones@ua.edu
PROFESSOR TO LEAD STUDY OF NATION’S FORESTS – Using satellite imagery and computer modeling, a research team led by UA hopes to understand the future implications of the management of the nation’s forests. For more information, contact Adam Jones, communications, at 205-348-4328 or adam.jones@ua.edu.
TECHNOLOGY SELECTED FOR START-UP PROGRAM – A UA research group is part of a national program, NSF I-Corps Teams, aimed at taking technology from the lab to the market. The UA technology is a method to reliably send electricity from a renewable energy source, such as a solar cell, to the power grid. For more information, contact Adam Jones, communications, at 205-348-4328 or adam.jones@ua.edu.
TREATING THE WHOLE PERSON FOCUS OF $1 MILLION NURSING GRANT — Drs. Monika Wedgeworth and Joshua Eyer, faculty in UA’s Capstone College of Nursing, were recently awarded a $976,918 nursing education program grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration for their project “Gateway Capstone: Interprofessional Behavioral Health for Walker County.” The project integrates behavioral health into the services provided by the Capstone Rural Health Center. For more information, contact Kim Eaton, communications, at 205-348-8325 or kim.eaton@ua.edu.
BEST BETS
WEEK OF WELCOME – UA’s Week of Welcome for new and returning students features the Yea Alabama! Kickoff barbecue Aug. 21, the Script A formation at Bryant-Denny Stadium Aug. 22 and Welcome Back breakfasts Aug. 23 and 24. Media will be asked to present credentials to cover the Script A formation at the stadium. For more events, go to https://wow.sa.ua.edu/events/2017-08/. For more details, contact Richard LeComte, UA communications, richard.lecomte@ua.edu, 205-348-3782.
UA LANDS FUNDING TO INCORPORATE MORE MATH INTO HIGH SCHOOL COMPUTER SCIENCE – UA will begin providing additional training opportunities for secondary math education majors for preparation to teach computer science. A $300,000 National Science Foundation grant will fund the creation of a course in the spring that will focus on computer science education topics, including equity in computer science education and the newly developed Alabama K-12 CS standards. The grant provides up to 30 $1,500 stipends over the next two years to students who take the new course. The idea is to strengthen the quality of computer science courses in Alabama high schools by incorporating more math principles into course design and instruction. For more information, contact David Miller, communications, at 205-348-0825 or david.c.miller@ua.edu.
HISTORY PROFESSOR’S SCREENPLAY ON CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER WINS FIRST PLACE — In 2009, UA history professor Dr. David Beito and his wife, Dr. Linda Royster Beito, released a book called “Black Maverick,” a biography about the unsung story of black civil rights pioneer Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, known as T.R.M. Howard. The professor followed up with a screenplay of Howard’s life. “Keepin’ It Mighty Hot,” was selected for first-place in the Alabama Writers’ Conclave 2017 Screenwriting Competition. For more details, contact Jamon Smith, UA communications, jamon.smith@ua.edu, 205-348-4956.