Tag: research


Applied Mathematicians Win NSF Grants and Host International Conference

Drs. Shibin Dai and Shan Zhao recently received two grants, worth more than $300,000, from the National Science Foundation to fund their research in applied mathematics. The two are serving on the organizing committee for the 2019 international National Science Foundation conference on mathematical molecular bioscience and biophysics.

Read More from Applied Mathematicians Win NSF Grants and Host International Conference

UA Researchers Examining Parkinson’s Resilience

Dr. Guy Caldwell, left, and doctoral student Brucker Nourse are studying genetic resiliency to Parkinson’s.

From the September 2018 Desktop News | Diseases have a spectrum of risk, even those partially embedded in genes such as Parkinson’s disease. Less than 10 percent of those with Parkinson’s can pinpoint their genes as the only culprit, while scores of others with some genetic markers are diagnosed with the disease. Still others have markers to develop Parkinson’s, but do not. Why? Research underway at The University of Alabama, supported by the National Institutes of Health, hopes to identify factors […]

Read More from UA Researchers Examining Parkinson’s Resilience

UA Researchers Attempt To Understand How Mobile Bay Deals With Excess Nutrients

University of Alabama Ph.D. student Daniel Agustin Montiel Martin, from Spain, working in the Mobile Bay of Alabama to research Submarine Groundwater Discharge.

From the September 2018 Desktop News | Nutrients. Just the word sounds good. Wholesome. We want food packed with nutrients. Everything a growing child needs. Junk food doesn’t have nutrients, we believe. Nutrient-rich food keeps us healthy. More than just our bodies thrive on nutrients. At its foundation, the world’s ecosystem is based on the consumption of nutrients that begins with tiny plant and animal life in water. Without nutrients, life does not thrive. However, excess nutrients, the inverse, can be […]

Read More from UA Researchers Attempt To Understand How Mobile Bay Deals With Excess Nutrients

UA Professors Help in Discovery of Potential Cosmic Ray Source

In this artistic rendering, a powerful blazar is shown as the origin of a neutrino detected by IceCube. The Fermi observatory in space and MAGIC telescopes on Earth detected high-energy gamma rays from the same source.

From the September 2018 Desktop News | Three UA professors are part of an international team of scientists who found evidence of the source of tiny cosmic particles, known as neutrinos, a discovery that opens the door to using these particles to observe the universe. “We’re beginning to do astronomy using means other than light, combining electromagnetic (light) observations with other measurements in what we now call multimessenger astronomy,” said Dr. Marcos Santander, UA assistant professor of physics and astronomy. “This […]

Read More from UA Professors Help in Discovery of Potential Cosmic Ray Source

With Project, Physics Professor ‘Pushing the Limit of Our Understanding’

Dr. Wang-Kong Tse was recently awarded a grant for his research examining van der Waals materials.

From the September 2018 Desktop News | Dr. Wang-Kong Tse, UA assistant professor of physics, was recently awarded a grant from the 2018 Early Career Research Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, one of 84 scientists from across the nation to receive funding. Tse will lead theoretical work in examining van der Waals materials, stacked, two-dimensional materials, when placed in what is called a non-equilibrium state, a condition where the material’s resting state is being perturbed by an external […]

Read More from With Project, Physics Professor ‘Pushing the Limit of Our Understanding’

Anthropology Professor Receives Award for Paper on “Pompeii of the New World”

From the September 2018 Desktop News | Dr. Katherine Chiou of UA’s anthropology department was recently awarded the Antiquity Prize by the Antiquity Trust for the best article published in the calendar year for her co-authored paper “Identifying ‘plantscapes’ at the Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén, El Salvador.” The award is presented to the best article in Antiquity, a peer-reviewed journal of archaeology published by the Antiquity Trust of Durham University. The Trust strives to promote archaeological research, education, […]

Read More from Anthropology Professor Receives Award for Paper on “Pompeii of the New World”

UA Astronomer Helps Discover Elusive Black Hole

A NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope view of galaxy 6dFGS gJ215022.2-055059 – the large white-yellow blob at the center of the image – and neighboring galaxies, combined with X-ray observations of a black hole at the galaxy’s outskirts – the small white-purple dot to its lower left – obtained with NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory.

From the August 2018 Desktop News | An astronomer at UA is part of an international team of researchers who found a mid-sized black hole, a cosmic oddity in observations of the universe. The finding, which demonstrates an effective method to detect this class of black holes, was announced recently in the journal Nature Astronomy. Two types of black holes are well-known. Massive stars create stellar-mass black holes when they die, while galaxies host supermassive black holes at their centers, with masses equivalent […]

Read More from UA Astronomer Helps Discover Elusive Black Hole

Professor Awarded Fulbright to Teach Romance, Gender in Greece

Catherine Roach Wins Fulbright

From the August 2018 Desktop News | Dr. Catherine M. Roach, a professor of gender and cultural studies in New College, recently received a Fulbright award to teach and consult about curriculum at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. The award was received as a part of her five-year appointment to the Fulbright Specialist Roster, for which she was selected in 2016. The roster consists of a select group of faculty and professionals who are activated and placed, on a case by […]

Read More from Professor Awarded Fulbright to Teach Romance, Gender in Greece

UA Study Seeks to Improve Miranda Right Comprehension for All

From the July 2018 Desktop News | Interacting with law enforcement has the potential to be stressful or frustrating for anyone. But for individuals with intellectual disabilities, these situations can be inordinately difficult. However, through a project funded by the Alabama Council of Intellectual Disabilities, psychology doctoral candidate Sydnee Erickson and associate professor of psychology Karen Salekin are trying to change that. Their goal? Learn how people with intellectual disabilities  understand their Miranda rights and create programs to bridge the comprehension gaps. […]

Read More from UA Study Seeks to Improve Miranda Right Comprehension for All

Disease Afflicting Frogs Becoming Deadlier

orange toad

  From the July 2018 Desktop News | A disease-inducing fungus in amphibians worldwide could become deadlier as different genetic variations emerge, according to research led by The University of Alabama. Biologists tested the harmfulness of a Brazilian hybrid form of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, known simply as Bd or the amphibian chytrid fungus, as well as both parent forms, on species of frogs from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. They found infections and strength of the illness increased with the hybrid form. Published […]

Read More from Disease Afflicting Frogs Becoming Deadlier