Research – Page 30 – College of Arts & Sciences

UA Faculty Discuss Alabama Greece Initiative Experience

October 30, 2014

Ever wanted to eat lunch at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece? Or study ancient Greek literature beneath a statue of Alexander the Great? Each year, UA faculty and students are invited to apply for the Alabama Greece Initiative, which allows them to travel to Greece in order to study and conduct research on topics of their choice. On Oct. 22, a group of UA professors who participated in the Alabama Greece Initiative this year held a symposium to […]

Student explores Louisiana salt trade with archeological dig

October 30, 2014

You’d think that spending the summer at the site of Louisiana’s oldest French settlement would be nothing short of grand. But Paul Eubanks, a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology, tells a different story. Eubanks’s six-week stay in Natchitoches involved daily ventures into the swamps of northwestern Louisiana and ample amounts of digging as he conducted research for his dissertation, which will focus on the history of salt production in the area. Though he describes Natchitoches as a town […]

Professor-Surgeon team headed to third phase clinical trials

October 30, 2014

Carol Duffy is proof that changing your mind is not only acceptable, but that doing so can often lead to something momentous. Duffy, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, is headed somewhere that very few faculty members have the chance to go – to a third phase clinical trial for a drug combination that has shown promising results to treat not only one, but several painful and debilitating illnesses. How have researchers not found this far-reaching treatment […]

Researchers Collaborate with Head Start

October 30, 2014

Can what you teach preschool students have lasting effects on them and on their family’s health and well-being? That’s what a group of University of Alabama researchers, in collaboration with Community Service Programs of West Alabama, hopes to determine. With a $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, the researchers have the potential to impact national policy on early childhood education. Their study will involve implementing a new curriculum and […]

Lipid Deficiency Linked to Parkinson’s

October 10, 2014

From the October 2014 edition of Desktop News | A study co-authored by researchers in The University of Alabama’s Caldwell Lab focuses on the potential roles lipids have in the death or malfunction of dopamine-producing neurons, which leads to symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. The study was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was led by senior researcher Dr. Stephan Witt at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. The University of Alabama’s lead author […]

Investigating Birth Defects

September 11, 2014

From the September 2014 edition of Desktop News | Kristin R. Di Bona, a doctoral candidate and graduate research assistant in the Department of Biological Sciences, received an award and cash prize for her research related to birth defects. The Marie W. Taubeneck award is given annually by the Teratology Society in recognition of scholarship in the study of birth defects and developmentally-mediated disorders. Di Bona earned the distinction for her graduate research, which focuses on the developmental and reproductive […]

Invisible “Dark Matter”

September 11, 2014

From the September 2014 edition of Desktop News | Three University of Alabama physicists are among dozens of researchers planning and developing a new international search for dark matter – an invisible material that scientists believe makes up roughly 27 percent of the universe’s mass. Drs. Andreas Piepke, Jerry Busenitz and Ion Stancu, all professors in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, are University representatives on the project, which is being managed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. UA scientists […]

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Award-Winning Geologist Recognized by State Legislature

September 11, 2014

From the September 2014 edition of Desktop News | Dr. Samantha Hansen, assistant professor in the department of geological sciences, was recently honored by a resolution in the Alabama House of Representatives that recognized her accomplishments in winning a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House earlier this year. Hansen received the PECASE award from President Obama during a reception at the White House in April. “Commendations and congratulations are herein conveyed to Dr. Samantha Hansen […]

Former CIA Officer Heads New UA Initiative

September 10, 2014

From the September 2014 edition of Desktop News | Reginald D. Hyde, a UA alumnus and former deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security in the U.S. Department of Defense, has been named executive director of UA’s new Cyber Institute, a collaborative effort between UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering, Culverhouse College of Commerce, and other groups. Hyde, who retired from government last year, will head the new institute, which will facilitate interdisciplinary research and educational […]

Extracting Uranium With Shrimp

September 10, 2014

From the September 2014 edition of Desktop News | The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a University of Alabama start-up company approximately $1.5 million to help extract uranium from the ocean using an innovative magnet – a compound found in shrimp. Uranium, the fuel for nuclear power, naturally occurs in seawater and in the Earth’s crust. Scientists have sought for decades a more economical and efficient way to remove it from the ocean. Using chitin, a compound found in shrimp […]