Alabama Launchpad features three firms with ties to the University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 20
Three companies with University of Alabama ties are among the 12 teams selected to compete in the latest round of the Alabama Launchpad Start-Up Competition, a contest designed to help startups take their ideas from concept to reality. Bidsters LLC, Powerhouse and Child Safety Pass, all Tuscaloosa based, are among the companies selected to compete in the pre-seed phase of the competition for a share of as much as $100,000 in award money meant to help advance their ventures, according to the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama Foundation and UA spokesman Chris Bryant. The teams, chosen from a pool of 19, are scheduled to make pitches during the proof of commercial relevance stage on Jan. 24 in Birmingham. The competition is judged by a five-member panel of investors, entrepreneurs and corporate stakeholders.
AL.com – Dec. 19
UA professors secure patent for renewable energy sources
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Dec. 19
Researchers at the University of Alabama have received a patent to make renewable energy more efficient. An engineering professor at UA developed an algorithm; which is a set of steps that are followed in order to solve a mathematical problem, that makes renewable energy…energy that may not have been utilized in the past, an available option. All the wires linked to a large computer server may not have been working to the best of their ability before Dr. Tim Haskew and Dr .Shuhui Li were able to create an algorithm that changes the way you capture energy from a wind turbine. Dr. Haskew said, “Sometimes when the control systems compete you end up with a system coming off line. And now you’re wasting available energy because the wind is still blowing, but you’re not putting energy back onto the grid.”
Study: Holidays are the most dangerous time to be on the roads
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Dec. 19
If you’re planning on waiting until a few days before Christmas to travel this year, you may want to think twice. According to a new study from the University of Alabama car crashes are most likely to occur between December 21st and the 26th. After combing through data about car accidents from the past ten years, Professor Allen Parrish and a team of researchers determined the Christmas season is the most dangerous time on the road all year long. “Because traffic volume tends to go up around the holidays. The number of crashes also tends to go up,” Dr. Parrish explains.
WGN-AM Radio (Chicago) – Dec. 19
WISH-CBS (Indianapolis) – Dec. 19