Hubble Space Telescope’s anniversary collection of photos includes 59 new images that include four credited to University of Alabama
Birmingham News – May 5
The Hubble Space Telescope last month released “Cosmic Collisions Galore!” an anniversary collection of 59 new images that includes credits to University of Alabama astronomer Bill Keel. The photos were released to celebrate the 18th anniversary of Hubble’s launch in 1990.
Built for speed: Students dig into nuts and bolts of auto racing
Tuscaloosa News – May 3
Stock car racing may rule in Alabama, but at the University of Alabama, it’s Formula One cars that get engines revving. The Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team at UA, which was founded in 1936, spends each year building a race car to compete in one to two races. This year, the team finished eighth overall among 43 collegiate teams from around the country at the Formula VIR Collegiate Design Challenge at Virginia International Raceway from April 23-26. The challenge was part of the Bosch Engineering 250 road racing series.
Business School Students Work to Help Classmate
WVUA,Tuscaloosa – May 2
Two classes in the University of Alabama’s business school had an auction this evening to benefit a classmate for a very unique class project….When Mike Parker suffered a spinal cord injury four years ago in a diving accident, the thought of simply accepting his disability never crossed his mind. One of Mike’s professors decided to create a project for his students that would not only raise awareness about spinal cord injuries, but help Mike achieve his dream of driving on his own again with a modified truck.
ALABAMA VOICES: Green with electricity
Montgomery Advertiser – May 5
This is the second in a series of columns on environmental and energy-related issues by faculty members at the University of Alabama. The columns appear on Mondays. By Keith A. Woodbury . . . How can energy-efficient homes help make the Earth greener? Much of the electric energy we use comes from power plants that burn coal, and for every kilowatt-hour of this electric energy consumed, about two pounds of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. . . . Keith A. Woodbury is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama and is also the director of the Alabama Industrial Assessment Center. For more information about the Alabama Industrial Assessment Center, visit http://www.iac.ua.edu/.
College News
Tuscaloosa News – May 5
Tony A. Freyer received the J.G. Ragsdale Book Award for “Little Rock on Trial: Cooper v. Aaron and School Desegregation” from the Arkansas Historical Association in Eureka Springs, Ark., on March 28. . . . For their groundbreaking research on diseases of the nervous system, especially in relation to Parkinson’s disease, the husband and wife team of Drs. Guy and Kim Caldwell, of The University of Alabama, has been awarded the first HudsonAlpha Prize for Outstanding Innovation in Life Sciences. . . .The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation selected two UA sophomore biology majors, Kalen Berry of Hartselle and Susan M. DeLeon of San Antonio, Texas, and UA junior Eric R.J. Edwards, a physics and mathematics major from Memphis, Tenn., as 2008 Goldwater Scholars.
Health discoveries
Birmingham News – May 4
Guy and Kim Caldwell, who teach biological sciences at the University of Alabama, have won the first HudsonAlpha Prize for outstanding innovation in life sciences. The $20,000 award comes for their research on diseases of the nervous system, especially Parkinson’s disease. The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit group in Huntsville, and the award seeks to recognize talent and research as well as raise awareness of biotechnology’s role in Alabama’s economy.
From the campus
Huntsville Times – May 4
Brittany Ray of Huntsville, a sophomore attending the University of Alabama, has had her compilation of research titled “Paleoecological Analysis of the Geological Survey of Alabama’s Ripley Formation Fossil Collection” published by the Geological Society of America. She was invited to attend and present her research findings at the Southeastern Geological Society of America’s 57th annual conference held inCharlotte, N.C. Ray is majoring in biology and ecology at Alabama. She plays saxophone in the university’s Million Dollar Band.
Music where it’s at for National Merit Scholar from Athens High
Athens News Courier – May 3
Just ask Colin Whitworth, the Athens High School senior who just won a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship. The 18-year-old struck gold with the achievement. The University of Alabama offered him a $50,000 scholarship package that includes four years of tuition, room and board, two trips abroad for study and a laptop computer.
Friend poaching: When friends bond and leave you behind
Seattle Times – May 4
We all wish we could rise above schoolyard jealousy — the more mature among us do — but friend poaching, the territorial battle that ensues when friends pick off friends they meet through you, can continue well into adulthood. . . . Jealousy is a factor at every age, said Jeffrey Parker, a developmental psychologist at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. “It’s a classic problem for all of us who have relationships and want to feel those relationships are special,” he said. “It’s the symbolism or stature that goes with the relationship, that sense that you are special in the life of this person, and it feels diluted. You must share that privileged status with someone else.”
Recent mergers haven’t decreased local bank presence
Montgomery Advertiser – May 4
Area consumers watching the constant bank mergers that have occurred during the past decade or two, may be surprised that despite the changes some things haven’t changed. Because new openings have kept pace with mergers, Mont¬gomery customers have about the same number of banking choices, both in brands and locations, that they did in 1994. . . . None of this came as a sur¬prise to Benton Gup, a bank¬ing professor at the Univer¬sity of Alabama. Gup described a process in which banks buy competi¬tors, eliminate overlap and grow that way. This often has less effect on bank consumers, who still have a wide range of choices, than on bank em¬ployees. “The benefit of the merger is to cut the largest cost, which is people,” he said.
RESTATE AT YOUR PERIL: The personal cost of restatements.
CFOAsia.com – May 2008
Companies that restate their earnings have substantially higher rates of involuntary CFO turnover, a new study by four college professors shows. And since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in 2002, these departing finance chiefs also have faced a tougher time on the job market, say the professors, Denton Collins of the University of Memphis, Austin Reitenga of the University of Alabama, and the University of Arkansas’s Juan Manuel Sanchez and Adi Masli.
Demand high for technical grads: Job market hot for engineers, computer scientists, skilled labor
Tuscaloosa News – May 4
The estimated 1.5 million college graduates in the class of 2008 will enter arguably the worst job market in years, but local colleges have yet to see a downturn in placement among their upcoming graduates. Some students’ majors will always be in demand. ‘There’s a lot of engineering jobs open right now,’ said Stephen Hill, a freshman mechanical engineering major at the University of Alabama. He said he didn’t think he’d have to worry when it came time to look for a job….Jerry Paschal, executive director of the University of Alabama’s career center, said on-campus recruiting remains undiminished by the downturn….
UA Community Affairs Division hosts awards luncheon
Tuscaloosa News – May 5
Malcolm Portera, chancellor of the University of Alabama System, was one of several people receiving distinguished achievement awards Friday at the second engagement awards luncheon sponsored by the Division of Community Affairs. Portera, who was also the main speaker for the event, thanked “faculty and students who are taking the university to the community.” Others receiving distinguished achievement awards given by the Center for Community-Based Partnerships, an outreach center at UA now in its second year, were: Charles L. Karr, dean of the College of Engineering, for his support for faculty and students who have built ballparks, helped with tornado damage recovery and established an engineering academy in the Black Belt. George L. Daniels, assistant professor of journalism, for his support of several programs to prepare high school students for careers in journalism, including the Multicultural Journalism Program, now in its 25th year at UA….Professor Cassandra Simon received one of the longest ovations when she told of plans for a new research journal charged with bridging the traditional gaps between teaching, research and service on American campuses….For faculty-initiated project: Lisa Hooper, College of Education, for research in families and adolescent health; M. Renne Umstattd, College of Environmental Sciences, for research on healthy habits on the campus. For student-initiated projects: Elliot Knight, graduate student in American Studies and Whitney Green, Black Belt Community Foundation, for the Black Belt 100 Lenses project; Karla Renee Horton, Ph.D. student in materials science, for a science in everyday experience project; Ryan Bryan, graduate student in creative writing, for introducing poetry writing and appreciation in Alabama prisons; and Austin James, graduate intern with Creative Campus, for work with West Alabama Boys and Girls Clubs. For community partner-initiated program (Parent Leadership Academy): …. Milla D. Boschung, dean, College of Human Environmental Sciences; and Joyce B. Stallworth, associate dean, College of Education; For community partner-
initiated project: Suzanne Dowling, UA media relations specialist, for “Arts’n Autism,” with members of Covenant Presbyterian Church.