Category: Research

News about Research


Students Receive Fulbright, Boren, and Goldwater Awards

From the June 2017 Desktop News | Each year students from The University of Alabama bring in dozens of major national accolades, and, as the largest college on campus, the College of Arts and Sciences is the place most of those students call home. This year, College of Arts and Sciences students received 11 Fulbright Awards, five Boren Scholarships, and two Goldwater Scholarships. FULBRIGHT AWARDS The highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually-designed research projects or for English-teaching assistantships. More […]

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Professor Compiles Accessible Book on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta

From the April 2017 Desktop News | The quarter of a million acres located in Alabama known as the Mobile-Tensaw Delta is considered one of the most biologically diverse environments in the country, but until recently, there was no literature fully explaining how the existing system works in laymen’s terms. Department of Geological Sciences Chairman Dr. Fred Andrus spent the last three years working to create a book meeting those qualifications. Since 2014, Andrus has been helping to find experts in different […]

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UA Professor: Political Identity More Complex than Traditional Labels

From the April 2017 Desktop News | A person’s political identity—for instance “strong conservative” or “moderate liberal”—means something different from place to place, according to a psychology researcher at The University of Alabama. Dr. Alexa Tullett, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Matthew Feinberg, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the University of Toronto, recently completed a study showing that people’s stated political identities correspond to different policy positions—and different voting behaviors—depending on the “redness” or “blueness” […]

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UA Professor’s Coping Power Program Goes to Pakistan and around the World

From the April 2017 Desktop News | Trying to circumvent the cycle of violence that is growing within Pakistan—especially among young children—Pakistani native Asia Mushtaq recently relied on an adapted version of UA professor Dr. John Lochman’s Coping Power program to reduce aggression among 9-to 11-year-old boys in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. “The proliferation of violence has become a serious social problem in Pakistan today,” Mushtaq wrote in her study which will be published in Prevention Science. “Environmental factors can initiate aggression and conduct […]

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Scientist Finds Historical Precedent for Warm Water Melting Antarctic Ice Shelves

Dr. Minzoni samples sediment cores

From the March 2017 Desktop News | In the last few decades, oceanographers have recognized that warm currents running underneath modern ice shelves in Antarctica are compromising ice sheet stability and contributing to rising sea levels, but there has been little evidence of historical precedent, until now. University of Alabama assistant professor Dr. Rebecca Totten Minzoni recently completed a study proving that the relatively warm Circumpolar Deep Water Current caused melting on the underside of ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea thousands […]

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Preserving Cuban History

From the March 2017 Desktop News | Dr. Matthew LaFevor and his brother David are in a race against the clock as they seek to preserve Cuban archival records of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials that date from the island’s early colonial period (16th century) through the modern era. “The sources are decaying rapidly because of unfavorable weather, moisture and mold, insects, and other factors,” said LaFevor, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography. “Some books are too far gone […]

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Physicist Named APS Fellow

From the February 2017 Desktop News | Dr. Andreas Piepke, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, was recently elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society for his work in defining the nature of neutrinos, neutral subatomic particles and fundamental constituents of matter. Each year, only 0.5 percent of the 53,000 members of APS, roughly 265 people, can potentially be elected a fellow. “It’s a big honor and a welcome recognition for work done in the field,” Piepke said. […]

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Instructor Wins Award to Study Football in Cuba

From the February 2017 Desktop News | Michael Wood, an instructor in the Department of American Studies, recently received the North American Society for Sport History’s inaugural Joseph L. Arbena Award, which offers $1,000 to those pursuing research in Latin American sports history. Wood studies the history of American football in Cuba, and using the funds from the award, he traveled to Havana, Cuba, for eight days to search through archives at the University of Havana and the José Martí Cuban […]

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UA Professor Elected Fellow to American Physical Society

Dr. Andreas Piepke, a professor in The University of Alabama’s department of physics and astronomy, was recently elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his work in defining the nature of neutrinos, neutral subatomic particles and fundamental constituents of matter. Each year, only 0.5 percent of the 53,000 members of APS, roughly 265 people, can potentially be elected a Fellow. “It’s a big honor and a welcome recognition for work done in the field,” Piepke said. To […]

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UA Students Win First Environmental Research Competition

Winners of the Geosyntec Award

From the January 2017 Desktop News | Two students in the Department of Geological Sciences recently received $5,000 by winning the first University of Alabama Outstanding Research Competition. The competition funds theses and dissertations that perform cutting-edge research related to the assessment and treatment of chemical contaminants in soil and groundwater. The competition was created by Geosyntec Consultants, an engineering firm that works with clients to address new ventures and complex problems involving the environment, natural resources, and civil infrastructure. “Geosyntec is […]

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