MONDAY, MARCH 27-SUNDAY, APRIL 2
BEST BETS
SHOOT OR DON’T SHOOT: FACULTY COMBINE VIRTUAL REALITY, NEUROSCIENCE INTO POLICE TRAINING RESEARCH – UA researchers are using a novel approach to learning how police officers react to “shoot, don’t shoot” situations: measuring brain waves during virtual reality police training. For the past year, Drs. Rick Houser (counselor education), Dan Fonseca (engineering) and Ryan Cook (clinical mental health counseling) have used a mobile electroencephalogram, or EEG, amplifier to measure the brain activity of three West Alabama law enforcement officers to determine which regions of the brain are active during Virtual Reality simulations of potentially high-threat situations. The researchers say the data may help police agencies improve training and hiring processes. The researchers will provide a demo similar to the VR simulator used at the undisclosed agency (per the Institutional Review Board, the identities of the three officers and their agency cannot be revealed) at 1 p.m., Wednesday, March 29 in room 1022 of the North Engineering Research Center. For more information, contact David Miller, UA media relations, at 205/348-0825, david.c.miller@ua.edu.
STUDENTS HIGHLIGHT RESEARCH, CREATIVITY DURING ANNUAL CONFERENCE – More than 500 undergraduate students at UA are highlighting their research and creative projects during the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference March 29-30. The 10th annual conference, hosted by UA’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, kicks off from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, with a Creative Activity Showcase. The showcase part of the conference, new for this year, provides fine arts students an opportunity to demonstrate their creative talents and research. About 50 student participants are expected for this component, which will be held at the Ferguson Center Theatre. The conference component is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in the Ferguson Student Center. For more information, contact Chris Bryant in media relations, 205/348-8323 or chris.bryant@ua.edu.
ENTREPRENEURS VIE FOR $50,000 PRIZE IN BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION – UA students and startups will compete in two rounds of business plan competitions at the 2017 Edward K. Aldag Business Plan Competition, Thursday, March 30, at the Bryant Conference Center. The winner will receive $50,000, space at The Edge in downtown Tuscaloosa and mentorship from business professionals. The competition begins at 8 a.m., with preliminaries ending at noon. The second round ends at 5 p.m., and the winners will be announced shortly after the second round. For more information, contact David Miller, UA media relations, at 205/348-0825 or david.c.miller@ua.edu.
WOMEN’S HEALTH FOCUS OF RURAL HEALTH CONFERENCE – Women’s health is the focus of the 18th annual Rural Health Conference hosted by UA’s College of Community Health Sciences and its Institute for Rural Health Research. “Empowering Women in Health: Bridging the Gap between Clinical and Community,” will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 30, and Friday, March 31, at the Bryant Conference Center on UA’s campus. Keynote speakers include Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, professor of medicine and director of the division of infectious diseases at UAB; and Dr. Marji Gold, a faculty member in the department of family and social medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. For more information, contact Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES DEPARTMENT MARKS 50TH ANNIVERSARY – UA’s department of religious studies is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a showcase of its accomplishments by students, graduates and faculty. On Tuesday, March 28, Drs. Michael Altman and Theodore Trost will present “Faculty Lectures: Remaking Religious Studies, Past and Present” from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Gorgas Library, room 205.Their lectures will highlight the history of religious studies across America and how UA’s religious studies department exemplifies some of the national trends. The department’s anniversary celebration continues Wednesday, March 29, with the fourth annual undergraduate research symposium from 9 a.m. to noon at Gorgas Library, room 205. Religious studies majors and minors will present their original work. The celebration concludes at 6 p.m. March 29 with the alumni panel “Critical Thinking Beyond the Classroom.” The panel will feature five UA religious studies graduates who will talk with 100-level students about the relevance of studying religion. For more information, contact Jamon Smith, UA media relations, 205/348-4956, or jamon.smith@ua.edu.
HUNGRY BLACK HOLE – Astronomers have predicted big black holes sit at the center of all galaxies. A UA professor contributed to a study finding one such black hole a million times as massive as our sun in the midst of eating a large star with a mass twice that of our sun. The researchers found a multi-wavelength flare from a tidal disruption in a dwarf starburst galaxy – a galaxy that can be seen as generating a large number of stars. The galaxy, some 1.8 billion light years from Earth, features a large star that’s being consumed – the tidal disruption event – by a black hole, said Dr. Jimmy Irwin, UA associate professor of physics and astronomy. For more details, contact Richard LeComte, media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782.
UA STUDENT WINS NATIONAL TRAVEL AWARD FOR ENGLISH – UA graduate student Candace Chambers recently flew to the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Portland, Oregon to receive the 2017 Scholars for the Dream Travel Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. The Scholars for the Dream Travel Award is a national award given to emerging scholars of color who are graduate students and who are embarking on scholarship that is promising, said Dr. Michelle Robinson, a UA assistant professor of English. Recipients of the award receive a $750 travel award, a reception held in their honor and a one-year membership in NCTE and CCCC. For more information, contact Jamon Smith, UA media relations, 205/348-4956, or jamon.smith@ua.edu.
EVENTS
ANNUAL CIVIL WAR LECTURES TO BE HELD SATURDAY – A series of lectures about the Civil War will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 1, in Sellers Auditorium at the Bryant Conference Center on the UA campus. The annual John Caldwell Calhoun Sanders Lecture Series includes talks about biographical sketches and personal wartime experiences on campus and in the field as well as unit histories and accounts of battles or skirmishes involving some 900 UA alumni and the University’s Corps of Cadets. For more information, contact Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.
LOOKING AHEAD
TAPPING ON THE MOUND — UA will recognize the achievement of outstanding students and faculty during Honors Week, April 3-7, culminating in the Tapping on the Mound ceremony on Honors Day. The Tapping on the Mound ceremony, a tradition since the early 1900s, will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 7, on the Mound at the west side of the UA Quad. The rain location will be the Moody Music Building Concert Hall. University honoraries Omicron Delta Kappa, Mortar Board, Blue Key National Honor Society and Anderson Society will induct members. For more details, contact Richard LeComte, in media relations, rllecomte@ur.ua.edu, 205/348-3782.
NEW EXHIBIT FEATURES TRAIN PHOTOGRAPHS – “Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden” opens April 4 at Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum. The special exhibit will consist of 30 beautifully crafted frames depicting black and white scenes of trains travelling across the nation in the 1950s and 1960s. For more information, contact Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu.