Tag: research


Geographer Recognized by AAG

From the February 2015 Desktop News | The Association of American Geographers awarded Dr. Bobby Wilson the AAG 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognized his extraordinary contributions to the scholarship of urban and social geography, urban studies, and anti-racist theory and practice; his teaching and mentoring; and his exemplary leadership in support of geography. Wilson’s career spans more than four decades. Through his research, he has addressed issues of housing, urban revitalization, economic development and social justice for black […]

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“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 […]

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Unexpected Discoveries

Undergraduate Students Who Do Research with Faculty Reap Tangible, Intangible Rewards Shelby Cloer did not know what she wanted to do with her future. She was a business major who happened to take a geology class one semester. As the lessons intrigued her and inspired her curiosity, Cloer decided to approach her professor about research opportunities. Now, she’s a senior getting her bachelor of science in geology. “Research can lead you in the right direction and get your foot in the […]

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Professor-Surgeon team headed to third phase clinical trials

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 […]

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Researchers Collaborate with Head Start

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 […]

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Investigating Birth Defects

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 […]

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Invisible “Dark Matter”

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

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 […]

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Extracting Uranium With Shrimp

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 […]

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Expeditions in Ecuador

From the August 2014 Desktop News | Some of the world’s most prominent botanists have named a tree species found in western Ecuador the Gustavia johnclarkii after a University of Alabama professor. The most interesting part? This is the sixth species to be named in his honor. Dr. John L. Clark, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and curator and director of the University of Alabama Herbarium, has made frequent trips to Ecuador since he served as […]

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