University of Alabama researchers get state grant for projects
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 1
The Alabama Innovation Fund has awarded nearly $4.5 million to advance across the state, including roughly $381,000 for work at the University of Alabama. The fund, which is administered by the Alabama Department of Commerce, is funding 14 projects at six different universities and two research-focused organizations. The projects are selected based on factors such as their potential for job creation and commercialization and spurring additional research possibilities. A team at UA led by assistant professor Brian Jordon will get $200,000 to buy a friction stir welding machine and investigate innovations leading to lighter auto and aircraft parts. Another team led by associate professor Luke Brewer is partnering with Nemak USA and will receive $181,480 for its work on inventing next-generation aluminum alloys from high-pressure die casting for automotive engine blocks.
US leads the world in mass shootings: Study
The Times India – Oct. 2
When it comes to gun massacres, there are more public mass shootings in the United States than in any other country in the world, according to a new study. Between 1966 and 2012, there were 90 mass shootings in the United States, where there is nearly one firearm for every American. The 90 mass shootings in the country are nearly a third of the 292 such attacks globally for that period. While the US has five per cent of the world’s population, it had 31 per cent of all public mass shootings … Mass shootings are defined for the study as having four or more victims and don’t include gang killings or slayings that involve the death of multiple family members. “People have been a little surprised by these statistics,” CNN quoted Adam Lankford, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, who did the analysis.
WFMY-CBS (Greensboro, NC) – Oct. 1
Company Kudos, October 2015
Business Alabama – Oct. 2
Back Forty Beer Co., of Gadsden, has been named one of Inc. Magazine’s 5,000 fastest-growing companies in the United States. The company had a three-year sales growth of 385 percent and is one of nine craft breweries on the list and the only brewery from Alabama listed. Back Forty was the16th fastest growing among the 53 Alabama companies on the list … The University of Alabama’s Manderson Graduate School of Business at the Culverhouse College of Commerce has named Accounting, Economics & Appraisals Group LLC its Manderson Partner of the Year. AEA Group is a consulting firm based in Birmingham specializing in forensic investigations and has locations throughout the Southeast.
Hoosier author Michael Martone plans book discussion, signing
Madison Courier (Ken.) – Oct. 1
An Indiana native plans to make a stop at Village Lights Bookstore this weekend for a special author event and book signing. Michael Martone, an editor of “Winesburg, Indiana: A Fork River Anthology,” plans to discuss the book’s mythical town and his other writings during a Saturday stop in Madison … Martone grew up in Fort Wayne and currently serves as a professor of English and the director of the creative writing program at the University of Alabama, the release said. He has authored more than a dozen books, including “Four for a Quarter: Fictions,” “Double-wide: Collected Fiction of Michael Martone” and “Not Normal, Illinois.”
Award-winning author Ann Twinam to hold guest lecture
Crimson White – Oct. 2
Dr. Ann Twinam, an award-winning author and historian, will speak at the first lecture of The University of Alabama’s new Latin American, Caribbean and Latino studies major, according to a press release. The lecture will take place Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. in Gorgas 205. The lecture is entitled “Purchasing Whiteness: Pardos, Mulattoes, & the Quest for Social Mobility in the Spanish Indies.” In Twinam’s lecture, she will be discussing the Spanish-American colonial hierarchal system of race, also known as the “gracias al sacar” system in which “castas”, or mixed-race groups, could receive white status and be absolved of tax and tribute requirements. Twinam is a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and she is the author of several books including “Miners, Merchants, and Farmers in Colonial Columbia.”
Dating and Domestic Violence Awareness Month
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 1
The month of October is Dating and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Event organizers at the University of Alabama say, the goal of the national campaign is not only to raise awareness, but also to educate people on the signs of unhealthy relationships, and how to seek help if they find themselves or their friends in need. Zoe Winston with the University of Alabama’s women and gender resource center says, domestic violence is all about power.
Garden Party to benefit Druid City Garden Project will be Sunday
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 1
Sunday night’s Garden Party will feature locally grown food from 14 farmers, eight restaurants and beer from three Tuscaloosa breweries. The fourth annual fundraiser is designed to highlight the mission of the nonprofit Druid City Garden Project: to build the community through locally grown food. The party will be from 5-8 p.m. Sunday at Smith Hall on the University of Alabama campus. Food providers will include Side By Side, Chuck’s Fish, Hotel Capstone, Jim ‘N Nicks Bar-B-Q, Kozy’s, the Levee Bar and Grill, Mary’s Cakes and Pastries and Southern Ale House. Beer will be provided by Band of Brothers Brewing Co., Black Warrior Brewing Co. and Druid City Brewing Co.