Teen, University of Alabama researchers find rare fossils in local quarry
Tuscaloosa News – July 17
A fragment of stone on a dusty hillside in a Greene County quarry drew Noah Traylor’s attention because it resembled a vertebra. Despite the tantalizing shape, the 14-year-old said he assumed an assessment by a University of Alabama paleontologist accompanying the teen and other middle and high school students would reveal it was only a rock, like so many other bits of stone culled during the annual summer field expedition program put on by UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History. Instead, paleontologist Takehito “Ike” Ikejiri told the teen it was fossilized bone…Noah’s vertebra-shaped rock turned out to be just that — a fossilized piece of backbone from an Elasmosaur, a Cretaceous period leviathan that prowled a sea whose shoreline traced along Alabama’s Black Belt region. Back on the hillside site where he picked up the fragment, Noah said the paleontologist identified more “rocks” as fossils from the large marine reptile. The fossils from the Elasmosaur — the inspiration for the Loch Ness Monster myth — are a rare find in the Black Belt’s fossil bed, said paleontologist Dana Ehret, who assisted with the 35th annual Museum Expedition Camp.
Science Daily – July 16
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – July 16
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – July 16
Student film wins top awards at Campus MovieFest
Crimson White – July 17
Student filmmakers from The University of Alabama were recently presented awards from The Campus MovieFest International at the Fox Studios in Hollywood, Calif., for their achievements in creating student films. June 22, Connor Simpson, a 2013 UA graduate with a degree in media production, and Alex Beatty, a junior majoring in media production, were both recipients of awards, an indication of the quality of the filmmaking programs offered to students at the University, Rachel Raimist, assistant director of Creative Campus, said. “I am extremely proud that our media production students in the department of telecommunication and film are not just competing against the top film schools in the country and placing high, but are winning the top prizes at national showcases such as Campus MovieFest,” Raimist said. “The department of telecommunication and film is emerging as a top film school in the South and a leader in the nation.”
New College professor wins prestigious award
Crimson White – July 17
Catherine Roach, a University of Alabama New College professor, has received a Fulbright-University of Leeds Distinguished Chair Award for 2013-14 to spend time researching and speaking overseas. One award is offered each year to a United States citizen who has substantially contributed to the University of Leeds through seminars and academic development. In total, the Distinguished Chair Program offers 40 fellowships in the United States. During this upcoming year, Roach will spend her time at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. Natalie Adams, director of New College, said Roach is an instrumental part to the New College staff. “Dr. Roach is an exemplary teacher, colleague, and scholar who has been a vital part of New College since arriving at UA from Harvard in 1998,” Adams said. “She is a very disciplined writer and a caring, accessible professor.”
Student creates major to aid emergency situations
Crimson White – July 17
The Ferguson Center was bustling with students as usual in January 2012. Several tables were lined up around the room with sign-up sheets, information cards and free T-shirts or pens. For John Fleischauer, it was the Red Cross table that caught his eye. “I have always been interested [in emergency services] to some degree,” said Fleischauer, a junior majoring in emergency management through New College. “I hadn’t thought about it much though until last January.” Volunteering with the Red Cross led Fleischauer to reconsider his undergraduate plans. “The more I worked with [Red Cross], the more I saw I wanted to do it full time, as a career after school,” he said…Fleischauer wanted to change his major from management and information sciences to emergency management, a major that the University does not offer. Enter New College, a University program first developed in 1971. Fleischauer could create his own major specific to his interests through the program. From the outset, the purpose of New College has been to offer ambitious, responsible and self-disciplined students the freedom to build a curriculum from several departments, according to the New College website.
Martin case sparks debate over law
Tuscaloosa News – July 16
George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager in Florida helped generate a national discussion over “stand your ground” laws. Twenty-two states, including Alabama, have “stand your ground” laws, which allow people to defend themselves with force if they feel threatened in their home, business, car, or a place where they “have a legal right to be.” Joe Colquitt, a former circuit court judge who teaches criminal law and procedure at the University of Alabama’s School of Law, said that before the state adopted “stand your ground,” a person acting in self-defense in Alabama was deemed legally justified to use “a like amount of force” that an assailant was using against him or her.
Did Farmington mom kill baby for attention?
Individual.com – July 17 (Subscription only)
Farmington mother is accused of suffocating her 3-month-old son more than four years ago and trying to do the same to her infant daughter last May in a case that may involve a mental illness that causes parents to seek attention by harming their children. Ashleigh Jennifer Casey, 25, is jailed for second-degree murder in the 2009 death of her newborn son Alexander Casey, who stopped breathing in the home in St. Louis Park where she had been staying. She’s also charged with two counts of felony assault for trying to suffocate her daughter while the baby was a patient at University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital, according to charges filed in Hennepin County District Court … Casey’s case appears to be a textbook example of Munchausen by Proxy, when a caregiver fakes or causes an illness in another person for the attention or sympathy, said Dr. Marc Feldman, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama and the author of “Playing Sick.” Infants and young children are the most common victims in Munchausen by Proxy, he said. Most often, mothers are responsible. In many cases, it isn’t recognized until another child displays the same symptoms.
Wright Waters speaks at Bryant Sports Leadership Institute
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – July 16
The Football Bowl Association Executive Director, Wright Waters, spoke at the Bryant Sports Leadership Institute. The Institute was hosted by The University of Alabama’s Program in Sports Communication, houses in the College of Communication and Information Sciences. Waters spoke to area high school students who have an interest in sports communication.
Meal donation program helps students in needs
Crimson White – July 17
Through a collaborative effort between the Parent Association, the Student Government Association, Bama Dining and the Dean of Students Office, a new program will offer nutritional meals to students in need. Leela Foley, director of media relations for SGA, cited prior success with food assistance programs in the past as the driving force and inspiration behind the new “Got Meals?” program. “The SGA led by Brielle Appelbaum created ‘Got Meals?’ after seeing the overwhelming student support for Meaningful Meals, which provided a Thanksgiving meal to local elementary school students in the fall of 2012,” Foley said. “Got Meals?,” which first began in spring 2013, aims to provide University of Alabama students with adequate access to the food they need, Appelbaum, SGA deputy director of programming and advancement, said. She also said the process had been streamlined to provide easier access for students. “Our vision when creating ‘Got Meals?’ was to create a program that bolstered meal donation numbers across campus and provided students in need with easier access to meal donations and assistance from the University,” Appelbaum said. “Students in need are now provided with immediate access to the Dean of Students Office from the comfort of their own home and can request up to seven meals before meeting with a counselor to assess further options.”…Kristina Hopton-Jones, director of University Dining Service, said 642 meals were donated to 49 students last year. She also said meals would be given out according to the need of the student. Students could donate toward the program. “Donated meals are given out on an as-needed basis,” Hopton-Jones said. “Donations and requests may be taken and given out throughout the year through the Dean Students Office. Every student who purchases a meal plan is allowed to donate one meal per semester.”
Students explore app creation
Crimson White – July 17
Cheyenne Paiva, a junior majoring in biology, is designing an app that will make it possible for users to send a text at a specific time and date. “I’ve written a couple databases and coded some programs for school-related things, so I figured it’d be fun to build some apps and websites on things that I personally find interesting,” Paiva said. Paiva is minoring in computer -based honors, which gave her the opportunity to work with various professors on campus. To create her app, Paiva downloaded the iPhone Software Development Kit from Apple Inc. If Paiva is successful in creating her app, she will have to pay $99 to distribute it in the Apple App Store. In addition to the developer fee, Paiva said there are other costs associated with creating an app. “I might have to pay into advertisement programs and buy Photoshop to make the app look pretty, so I honestly don’t know how much it’ll cost,” Paiva said.