UA Astronomer Helps Discover Elusive Black Hole

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 […]

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Professor Awarded Fulbright to Teach Romance, Gender in Greece

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 […]

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Play about Race, Basketball Wins Professor National Arts Grant

From the July 2018 Desktop News | Seth Panitch, professor of acting and head of The University of Alabama’s acting programs, was awarded a $10,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant to produce his upcoming play, Separate and Equal. He co-wrote the grant with Dominic Yeager, UA assistant professor of theatre, and developed the play with Lawrence Jackson, a choreographer and UA assistant professor of dance. The grant is typically given to those only in professional theatre, not academic theatre, but because Panitch’s Bridge Project is […]

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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. […]

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Disease Afflicting Frogs Becoming Deadlier

  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 […]

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Asher Elbein

As a freelance writer and illustrator not even four years into his career, Asher Elbein has already published multiple times with journalism behemoths including The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Smithsonian. Elbein knew when he came to The University of Alabama that he wanted to be a science journalist—after all, he’d been obsessed with drawing and learning about dinosaurs from childhood. But rather than pursuing a journalism major, he thought an interdisciplinary approach through New College would serve him […]

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Xavier Neal-Burgin

Upstart director and storyteller Xavier Neal-Burgin is pushing to tell underrepresented stories in Hollywood. At only 28 years old, Neal-Burgin has already directed twelve short films, which have led him to become an HBO Film Finalist, a Sundance Lab Fellow, a Student Academy Award Semifinalist—and he has 60,000 Twitter followers to boot. Neal-Burgin says he is excited by his success and hopes he’ll see increased visibility for black directors, storytellers, actors, and other creatives. Thus far, he has focused his […]

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Theodora Ziolkowski

Only 28 years old, Theodora Ziolkowski is a Best New Poet and Pushcart Prize nominee; she has been published in more than two dozen online and print journals and magazines; and early this year she published her first novella, On the Rocks, with Texas Review Press. “Theodora is a force of nature, impressive at any age,” said Kellie Wells, director of the UA creative writing program. “But what makes her especially remarkable is that she has published quite a lot […]

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Tanesia Woody

Tanesia Woody says she’s stubborn. As she tells it, she only decided to become a cryptologic language analyst for the Air Force after the recruiter suggested that she shouldn’t try because roughly 50 percent of prospective linguists fail out of the program. “When he told me it was the program most people failed out of, I said ‘Cool, sign me up,’” Woody recalled. Woody served formally in the Air Force for six years, and though she medically retired in January, […]

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