From the February 2015 Desktop News | Dr. Dawn Williams, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been named the February 2015 Woman Physicist of the Month by the American Physical Society’s Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. The committee recognizes each month exceptional female physicists who have positively affected other individuals’ lives and careers. The award is open to research physicists, students, instructors or any women doing physics-related work. Recipients are featured on the […]
Category: Research
News about Research
Dixon Recognized for Distinguished Service
From the February 2015 Desktop News | Dr. David A. Dixon, Robert Ramsay Chair in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded the American Chemical Society Division of Fluorine Chemistry Distinguished Service Award on Jan. 15. This award is given biannually at the Winter Fluorine Conference and recognizes outstanding service to the division. “The award has real meaning to me as it is recognition of my service to the American Chemical Society Division of Fluorine Chemistry,” Dixon said. “I am very […]
Ice Cube Astronomy
UA professor of astronomy Dawn Williams will share the wonders of Antarctica and the groundbreaking research done in the Ice Cube Neutrino Detector in a talk on Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. in Room 227 Gallalee Hall before the public night. During a talk entitled “Ice Cube: The weirdest wonder of modern astronomy,” Williams will describe how this high-energy detector was built by melting ice and how the nearly massless particles called neutrinos give insights into violent astrophysical events. She […]
The “Top 40 Democracy” of Popular Music
From the January 2015 Desktop News | A former music critic, Dr. Eric Weisbard has always been interested in connecting the dots of popular culture. When critics began talking about “rockism,” the idea of rock as a biased way of valuing some music and not others, and “poptimism,” the idea that commercial music of all kinds should be celebrated for its diversity, he thought both ideas were too simplistic, so he wrote a book about it, using a historical approach […]
Psychologists to Bolster Health Services
From the January 2015 Desktop News | A team of psychology researchers has been awarded a two-year, $250,000 contract from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to help integrate behavioral health and chronic pain treatment plans into Alabama’s 15 federally-qualified health centers. The award, given to Dr. Beverly Thorn, professor in the Department of Psychology, runs concurrently with the team’s $1.3 million study comparing literacy-adapted, group cognitive-behavioral therapy for pain education to typical medical treatment. Thorn received a Eugene Washington PCORI […]
Physicist Awarded NSF CAREER Award
From the January 2015 Desktop News | Dr. Claudia Mewes, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and UA’s Center for Materials for Information Technology, has received a $500,000 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. The CAREER Award is NSF’s most prestigious recognition of top-performing young scientists beginning their careers. Mewes’s research focuses on theoretical condensed matter physics, more specifically spintronics, which aims to use the electron spin in addition to its electric charge to develop highly […]
Physics Student to Intern at U.S. DOE
From the December 2014 edition of Desktop News | Marissa Leshnov, a third-year physics student in the College, has been selected for the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Leshnov will be one of 100 undergraduate students interning at one of 13 DOE laboratories during spring 2015. Her work for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, will focus on developing biofuels – alternative transportation fluids derived from organic matter. The 16-week program […]
“Cold War Dixie” Wins Best Book Award
From the December 2014 edition of Desktop News | A book examining the impact of the Cold War on the U.S. South, written by a College of Arts and Sciences historian, was recently recognized by the Southern Historical Association as the best book in southern economic or business history published in the last two years. The Bennett H. Wall Award recognized Dr. Kari Frederickson, professor and chair of the Department of History, for Cold War Dixie: Militarization and Modernization in […]
Campfires Help Lower Blood Pressure
From the December 2014 edition of Desktop News | A University of Alabama anthropologist has found that, consistent with anecdotal reports, hearths and campfires can lower blood pressure and likely played important roles in the evolution of the human social brain. Christopher Lynn, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, conducted a three-year lab-based study on the subject. In an article published in Evolutionary Psychology, Lynn discussed preliminary results from the study, in which he isolated the sensory aspects […]
UCRA Accepting Applications
The Undergraduate Creativity and Research Academy (UCRA), a unit of the College of Arts and Sciences, seeks applications for its new undergraduate research funding. Established in 2014, UCRA aims to fund undergraduate research and creative activity and to highlight the exceptional work of College students and their faculty mentors. Students selected for funding will present their work at the annual University Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference, held in the spring semester. They are also encouraged to present their work […]