Economists predict 2014 will be a good year for Alabama
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – Jan. 15
Economic experts say things are starting to look up in Alabama. Economists say Alabama is bouncing back from the recession and 2014 will be a good year. The information was announced at Wednesday’s economic conference in Montgomery. “2014 is going to be better. It’s going to be better economically. If you don’t have a job, you will likely find one or if you have a job, you will likely find a better job,” said Dr. Sam Addy, Associate Dean for Research and Outreach at the University of Alabama. According to the Center for Business and Economic research at the University of Alabama looking at future numbers for 2014, in Alabama it’s believed the number of jobs will grow by 1.3 percent, which equates to about 25,000 jobs and the gross domestic product, which is the value of all goods and services we produce, is projected to increase about 2.5 percent. “Those are good numbers, especially when you compare to recent past,” Addy said. In fact, it’s good numbers for the nation as a whole. Financial experts predict this will be the best year yet since the end of the recession with the economy improving roughly 3 percent and possibly even better than that.
Professor receives award for success in geology research
Crimson White – Jan. 16
Two days before Christmas, Samantha Hansen, an assistant professor in the University’s geology department, received an email from the White House informing her that she was among a group of 102 researchers to receive the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. This award is the highest honor that can be given from the United States government to science and engineering professionals in the beginning stages of their careers in independent research. “The impressive achievements of these early-stage scientists and engineers are promising indicators of even greater successes ahead,” President Barack Obama said in a recent announcement from the White House Press Office. “We are grateful for their commitment to generating the scientific and technical advancements that will ensure America’s global leadership for many years to come.” The news came shortly after Hansen returned from her fourth trip to Antarctica where she and a small team were collecting data from 15 seismic stations the team put in place in order to study the formation of the Northern Trans-Antarctic Mountains, which are in large part covered in ice and snow. “I think for both me and the department, it is a nice feather in the cap,” Hansen said about receiving the honor. “Many years of my life have been invested in this [project], and it’s nice to see someone recognize that.”
Students vote instructor ‘Professor of the Year’
Crimson White – Jan. 16
Twenty years after Chris Roberts graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in journalism, he returned to his alma mater to teach in the familiar lecture halls and classrooms of Reese Phifer Hall. Now, Roberts’s dedication to his field and his students has paid off. “The first class I taught here was the first class I took here, and it was the same room,” Roberts, an assistant professor in the department of journalism, said. “It’s weird, but the idea of coming back is very nice. And it worked.” Last semester, the College of Communication and Information Sciences Ambassadors let students vote for Professor of the Year. “Dr. Roberts won by a landslide,” Hannah Fowler, president of the C&IS Ambassadors, said.
Quick Question: Time To Leave Smokers Alone?
GPB News – Jan. 16
Fifty years ago this month, the landmark U.S. Surgeon General’s report linking cigarette smoking and lung cancer was released. Over the past half-century, America has become more and more inhospitable to people who smoke and to tobacco companies. In a recent statement, the Department of Health and Human Services declares its desire “to make the next generation tobacco-free.”… Alan Blum, who runs the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society at the University of Alabama, … recently posted a 23-minute video titled Blowing Smoke: The Lost Legacy of the Surgeon General’s Report. “My film was released on the anniversary of the report to counterbalance the celebratory nature of the commemoration, such as you are reading about all month,” Blum says. “The effort today is indeed more symbol than substance.” In answer to the question: “The battle has not been won,” Blum says, “in large measure because perpetuating the cause and earning a salary and getting grants along the way has become the cause.”
Gallery to host Morgan Collection
Crimson White – Jan. 16
Beginning Jan. 16, The University of Alabama Art Gallery at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center will showcase “The Morgan Collection – Selections,” an exhibit composed of pieces from the Permanent Collection at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art. The exhibit features pieces amassed by late gallery owners Jim and Myra Morgan, both graduates of the University. Vicki Rial, the exhibitions coordinator at the Sarah Moody Gallery, said the Morgan Collection, donated by the Morgan family in 2007, offers a timeless quality. “The good humor of [the artwork] is not dated, and the sadness is not dated,” Rial said. “The human emotion that’s found in the works is still present in the world, so I think that anyone who looks at it should be moved by it.” This particular quality could be attributed to the fact that the artists Jim and Myra Morgan chose to work with were both well-educated and well-trained, she said.
Alabama Museum of Natural History to host fossil, 3-D printing event
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 15
The Alabama Museum of Natural History will offer a free event Jan. 26 that includes demonstrations of 3-D printing and scanning, a display of fossils and other geologic history and a lecture on the subject. The Science Sunday event will be held from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at Smith Hall on the University of Alabama campus. The College of Engineering will demonstrate 3-D printers by creating miniature versions of fossils, according to a release from UA. There will also be displays of fossils and other geologic history; a showing of the Discovering Alabama episode “Tracks Across Time” about a coal mine site in Walker County that has a rich array of fossils; and a lecture about fossils by museum curator of paleontology Dana Ehret.
ALLELE series continues with Gregory Retallack lecture
Crimson White – Jan. 16
University of Oregon Professor Gregory Retallack will visit campus and give a lecture titled “Global Cooling by Grassland Soils in the Geological Past, Present, and Near Future.” The talk will take place Thursday in the Biology Auditorium, Room 127 at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is part of the ALLELE series, Alabama’s Lectures on Life’s Evolution. The series is sponsored by the departments of biological sciences, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, history and geological sciences. Retallack is a paleontologist and geologist from Australia. His specialty is the study of fossils, and he has written two textbooks on the study of soil, known as paleopedology. His lecture will examine the role of grasslands in global cooling and its effects throughout history.
UA Ph.D. candidate knew ‘Lone Survivor’ soldiers
Crimson White – Jan. 16
Three American soldiers died on June 25, 2005, one of the worst days in U.S. special operations history. The events of that day were documented in the movie “Lone Survivor,” based on a book written by Marcus Luttrell. Luttrell was a member of SEAL Team 10. Luttrell and three other SEALs went on a two-day mission to kill a Taliban leader, but only Luttrell made it out alive. Ben Woodruff, a finance Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alabama, had the privilege of knowing Luttrell and Michael Murphy, another SEAL on the mission. Woodruff said Murphy was the best man he ever knew. What is your military background? I was enlisted in the Navy from the early ’90s to 2002, and I was in the Naval Special Warfare Intelligence Division. I worked with SEAL Team 8 and Seal Delivery Vehicle 1.
Record revival: Students contribute to increase in vinyl sales
Crimson White – Jan. 16
Once upon a time, music meant something completely different than the sounds coursing through iPhone-clad students’ earbuds or car stereos. It meant gathering around a turntable and playing a vinyl record. It meant treasuring delicate records and listening to them the whole way through. But for an increasing number of University of Alabama students, it still means that same thing today. Oz Music, Tuscaloosa’s sole record store, recently condensed its CD collection to make room for an ever-growing collection of vinyl. … “The compact disc seemed like it was going to destroy vinyl, but then no one ever really developed the same love for compact discs that they had for vinyl,” said Eric Weisbard, assistant professor of American studies. “When technology changed and it was possible to get by without ever owning a CD, many people thought, ‘Great, we’re not gonna miss ’em.’ Whereas vinyl always had fans along the way. Even when compact discs seemed to obliterate them, there were people who said, ‘I like the way music sounds on vinyl more.’”