MONDAY, JAN. 14 – MONDAY, JAN. 21
RESEARCH
PROFESSOR’S HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION RESEARCH GETS BOOST – The National Science Foundation awarded a UA computer science professor a grant to better understand how K-12 students in the Alabama Black Belt perceive human-computer interaction. Dr. Chris Crawford received the grant to develop technology that allows children to get hands-on experiences building neurofeedback programs, an application that uses near real-time visualizations of brain activity to teach self-regulation. During a previous project, which influenced this one, Crawford’s team connected electroencephalogram, or EEG, devices to drones, and people raced each other with their brains as opposed to controllers. For more information, contact Alana Norris, engineering communications, at 205-348-6444 or anorris@eng.ua.edu or UA communications, 205-348-5323.
DANCE PROFESSOR LANDS NEH GRANT – With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a UA dance professor will lead an effort to improve online access to dance resources for education and scholarship. Rebecca Salzer received a Digital Humanities Advancement grant. “I believe that our project can improve access to the digital dance resources we have and also pave the way for dance to more dynamically inhabit digital space,” Salzer said. For more information, contact Adam Jones at 205-348-4328 or adam.jones@ua.edu.
BEST BETS
MLK DAY: NOT A DAY OFF, BUT A DAY FOR ACTION – For years, UA has celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy through the Realizing the Dream concert and community events, but now it’s expanding the celebration through a new initiative. With a goal of creating more learning opportunities for campus about King and with an increased emphasis on giving back, a universitywide committee of faculty, staff and students selected “The Fierce Urgency of Now: A Day On – Not a Day Off!” as this year’s theme for the new initiative. In addition to the opportunity for students, faculty and staff to volunteer on MLK Day, Jan. 21, it features a series of on-campus learning and engagement opportunities from Jan. 14 through Jan. 31. For more information, contact Jamon Smith at jamon.smith@ua.edu, or 205-348-4956.
GOSPEL SINGER, JOURNALIST HIGHLIGHT REALIZING THE DREAM EVENTS – Pastor Marvin Sapp, award-winning Gospel singer and songwriter, is the featured performer for the 2019 Realizing the Dream Concert Sunday, Jan. 20. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at UA’s Moody Music Concert Hall. Journalist and author Byron Pitts, co-anchor of ABC’s “Nightline” and author of two books, will be the Legacy Awards Banquet speaker. The banquet will take place Friday, Jan. 18, at 6:30 p.m. in the Bryant Conference Center’s Sellers Auditorium, also on campus. Ticket information is available at www.uamusic.tix.com. For more information, contact Dianne Kennedy-Jackson, 205-348-4480, dkkennedy1@ua.edu or UA communications at 205-348-5320.
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