TUESDAY, SEPT. 3 – SUNDAY, SEPT. 8, 2013
BEST BETS
RESEARCHERS TO GAIN ACCESS TO CANARY ISLAND TELESCOPE – UA faculty and student astronomers are gaining remote access to a telescope on one of the Canary Islands, off Africa’s coast. Starting in 2015, UA astronomers may access the remotely operated 1.0-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma, which is off the coast of Morocco. Having access to a nighttime sky during daylight hours in Tuscaloosa opens more teaching opportunities during traditional class times and, in combination with UA’s access to telescopes in other regions, can enable researchers to track a single star uninterrupted for up to 18 hours. UA will acquire access to the telescope through its participation in an 11-member consortium known as the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy. For more information, see this news release or contact Dr. William Keel, professor of astronomy in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, at wkeel@as.ua.edu. For assistance, contact Chris Bryant in media relations, 205/348-8323 or cjbryant@ur.ua.edu
UA PROFESSOR TO STUDY ALABAMA BARBECUE – University of Alabama history professor Dr. Joshua Rothman is using a new grant to examine the cultural phenomenon of barbecue in the South, and particularly in Alabama. For more information, contact Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, at bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu or 205/348-4956.
UA STUDY WITH TROUBLED YOUTH USES TECHNOLOGY, POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT – Dr. Randy Salekin, UA psychology professor, is channeling the power of positivity to counsel boys in the Department of Youth Services system. Salekin and a team of UA graduate students have developed a system that combines science education, technology, positive psychology, and positive reinforcement that has been more effective at reaching troubled youth at the facility than typical methods, like empathy training or strict discipline. Salekin and his team have had the positive interventions with more than 70 boys, ages 12 to 18, since the spring. The boys typically have conduct disorder or oppositional defiance, along with criminal or serious behavioral issues, Salekin said. The interventions, though, are impacting behavior, according to DYS staff members. The positive aspect to the message is “there’s something I can do about this,” said Salekin. “It gives them a tremendous amount of confidence. Their eyes are wide open at that point.” Salekin said positive psychology interventions are typically used with emotionally troubled adults, making his study with oppositional defiant youth the first of its kind. For more information, contact David Miller, media relations, 205/348-0825 or dcmiller2@ur.ua.edu.
3-MINUTE THESIS TEACHES GRAD STUDENTS HOW TO SHARE THEIR WORK – A new program embraced by The University of Alabama Graduate School is teaching doctoral students how to lose academic language to make their work accessible to everyone. For more information, contact Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, at bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu or 205/348-4956.
UA ENGINEERING PROFESSOR GRANTED PATENT FOR CARBON-CAPTURE PROCESS – An innovative method for stripping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from industrial emissions is potentially cheaper and more efficient than current methods, according to a United States patent based on research by Dr. Jason E. Bara, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at The University of Alabama. For more information, contact Adam Jones, UA engineering media relations, at acjones12@eng.ua.edu or 205/348-6444.
UA PROFESSOR’S NEW BOOK EXAMINES COLD WAR’S IMPACT ON SOUTH – A new book by University of Alabama history professor Kari Frederickson explores how the Cold War changed the American South in ways that are just now being understood. “Cold War Dixie” (University of Georgia Press, 2013) examines the impact of the military-industrial complex on the small town of Aiken, S.C. For more information, contact Frederickson at kfrederi@as.ua.edu or Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, at bwmathews1@ua.edu or 205/348-4956.
CURRENT COMMENT
UA EXPERT COMMENTS ON A POTENTIAL U.S.-SYRIA STRIKE – Dr. Daniel Levine, assistant professor of political science, has the following comments on a potential U.S.-Syria strike: “There are three or four sets of questions that are being discussed by scholars here: One relates to the question of a particular ‘taboo’ around the use of chemical weapons: whether such a taboo exists, and whether it should be enforced. So for folks wondering why we are mulling an intervention now, after 120,000 deaths — that’s the answer some people offer: that the international community, for any number of reasons, is especially sensitive to the thought of chemical weapons attacks becoming commonplace in war. Within that discussion, it bears noting that the intervention we’re talking about is less humanitarian than self-interested. The administration and the congress don’t seem to be talking about ‘saving the Syrian people’ from a terrible regime; as many did do regarding Saddam’s regime in 2003. They are talking about punishing a regime which has crossed an ostensible ‘red line,’ because that red line is important to powerful states and inter-state organizations. In a sense, this is a conversation about deterrence, not humanitarianism. That abstraction is frequently lost in everyday discussion. “ Contact Levine directly at daniel.j.levine@ua.edu or, for assistance, contact Bobby Mathews, UA media relations, at bwmathews1@ur.ua.edu or 205/348-4956.
EVENTS
‘SEE JANE WRITE’ FOUNDER TO SPEAK– Javacia Harris Bowser, founder and editor of Birmingham’s See Jane Write magazine and an alumna of the UA journalism department, will speak Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Reese Phifer Hall, room 338, as part of the first 2013 meeting for the Capstone Association of Black Journalists. She formerly wrote for The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal and continues her journalism career working as a freelance writer for various local and national publications including Magic City Post, Birmingham magazine, Hispanic Executive magazine and USA Today. A self-described “Southern fried feminist,” Bowser in 2011 launched See Jane Write, a networking group for female writers in Birmingham. For more information, contact Misty Mathews, UA media relations, mmathews@ua.edu or 205/348-6416, or Meredith Cummings, CABJ advisor, mccummings1@ua.edu or 205/348-2772.
SATURDAY IN THE PARK CONTINUES AT MOUNDVILLE — Chip Wente, artist and longtime park volunteer, will discuss prehistoric and history pottery making, while displaying a wide assortment of vessels made using age-old techniques during this weekend’s Saturday in the Park program at UA’s Moundville Archaeological Park. Actual prehistoric pot sherds will be available for visitors to see and touch. Young potters will get a chance to play with clay and try out several activities related to Southeastern Indian pottery. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. Contact: Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.
LOOKING AHEAD
OPENING THE GRADUATE DOOR – UA’s Graduate School will host a symposium titled “Opening the (Graduate) Schoolhouse Door at UA,” from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, in the Ferguson Center Theatre. The panel discussion, which will focus on national leadership in African American graduate education in the 21st century, features two early African American graduate students, including the first to earn a doctorate at UA, along with current students and several faculty members. The symposium is part of “Through the Doors,” a year-long series of activities and events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of UA in 1963. For more information, visit http://www.throughthedoors.ua.edu/index.html. Details: Richard LeComte, media relations, 205/348-3782, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu.