Department of Biological Sciences – Page 15

UA to Use NSF Funding to Boost STEM Teachers in High Schools

July 11, 2017

From the July 2017 Desktop News | Researchers at The University of Alabama hope to place as many as 15 STEM teachers in area schools through a $1.95 million grant that will provide tuition assistance, enhanced teacher training, and robust salary supplements. UA was recently awarded a Developing Leaders in Science Teaching grant from the National Science Foundation to recruit college graduates from STEM disciplines to pursue master’s degrees and earn secondary teacher certifications at UA. “When they complete their master’s degrees, […]

Summer Reading List 2017

June 23, 2017

As you enjoy your summer months, read through these books written by A&S faculty (and one alumnus) from several departments: Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, by E.O. Wilson Written by one of The University of Alabama’s most distinguished alumni, Half-Earth proposes a plan to preserve our planet’s biodiversity. In order to solve a problem as seemingly insurmountable as extinction, Wilson suggests an incredible plan: dedicate half of Earth’s surface to nature. In order to be successful, Half-Earth explains, we […]

A&S in the News: June 11-17, 2017

June 19, 2017

Jessica Procter Crowned Miss Alabama Tuscaloosa native crowned Miss Alabama: Tuscaloosa News – June 10 Tuscaloosa native Jessica Procter was crowned Miss Alabama at the annual pageant in Birmingham Saturday night. Procter will go on to represent the state in the Miss America competition in September. Miss University of Alabama Callie Walker made it to the top five. Procter was representing Miss Leeds Area. She is a UA junior enrolled in New College, majoring in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in […]

To Combat Coral-Eating Pest, UA Researcher Helps Find What They Smell

June 6, 2017

Aggregation of crown-of-thorns starfish on the back of Keeper Reef.

From the June 2017 Desktop News | A University of Alabama researcher is part of a team that identified genes used to communicate by a starfish that preys upon coral reefs, a promising discovery that could lead to efforts to repel the aquatic pest from sensitive reefs. The findings, published in the journal Nature, are the first insight into what chemicals attract and repel the crown-of-thorns starfish and suggest a method of mitigating other marine nuisances. “This sea star is an absolutely huge […]

UA Scientist Named AAAS Fellow

January 12, 2017

From the January 2017 Desktop News | The world’s largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected a University of Alabama scientist to the rank of Fellow. Dr. Patricia Sobecky, UA associate provost for academic affairs and professor of biological sciences, was one of 391 people elected as an AAAS Fellow in 2016. Awardees are chosen because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. “We offer our enthusiastic congratulations to Patty […]

Three UA Faculty Members Named Endowed Elmore Professors

November 18, 2016

In honor of Marilyn Williams Elmore and her husband John Durr Elmore, The University of Alabama Board of Trustees recently approved the establishment of The Marilyn Williams Elmore and John Durr Elmore Endowed Professorship in the College of Arts and Sciences. The professorship, which is funded by the couple’s estate gift in excess of $300,000, provides stipends to recruit nationally and internationally distinguished teacher-scholars as well as to ensure the retention of mid-career faculty whose teaching and research skills are […]

Fruit-Fly Diet Impacts Descendants, UA Researcher Finds

October 11, 2016

From the October 2016 Desktop News | For a fruit fly, what its grandparents ate may affect how much it weighs. And, according to Dr. Laura Reed, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, similar relationships between generational diet and obesity may hold true for humans as well. To study obesity, Reed and her team experiment with the diets of fruit flies. They feed some of the larvae a high-fat diet while they give the control group a regular diet. Then, […]

A&S Lecture Roundup

October 5, 2016

The College of Arts & Sciences has so many incredible guest speakers and presentations. But you’re covered. Here’s a list of (regularly updated) lectures happening. Looking for the cost information? Unless otherwise noted, they are all free and open to the public! November 10 Who: Dr. Joseph Graves, biologist & geneticist When: 7:30 p.m. Where: North Lawn Hall Auditorium Dr. Joseph Graves, Jr., an evolutionary biologist and geneticist, will be unpacking the social construction of race for the second Alabama Lectures on Life’s Evolution (ALLELE) […]

UA Researcher Helps Unlock Biodiversity Mystery

September 12, 2016

A sample of green algae collected from the Gulf of Mexico.

From the September 2016 Desktop News | The discovery of a deep-water seaweed that evolved into a multicellular plant more than 540 million years ago has added a new branch to the tree of life, according to a biologist at The University of Alabama. Dr. Juan Lopez-Bautista, professor of biological sciences at UA, co-wrote a study of algae collected from the Gulf of Mexico that revealed a significantly different cellular structure than first believed. The finding, published in Scientific Reports, details the […]

Traveling to the Ocean Floor: Professor Studies Deep-Sea Mollusks

September 12, 2016

Aplacophora are worm-like mollusks characterized by their lack of shells and tiny units called calcareous spicules.

From the September 2016 Desktop News | While the unique environment of the deep ocean would likely prove nightmarish and panic-inducing for many people, it’s just another day of fieldwork for Department of Biological Sciences’ assistant professor Dr. Kevin Kocot. This July, Kocot submerged to oceanic depths for the ninth time, joining 21 other marine scientists from universities across the nation who were selected to participate in this year’s Chief Scientist Training Cruise put on by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System. In […]