UA In the News — May 26

Stephen Black, founder of Impact America, to keynote higher education track
Cedar Rapids Gazette (Iowa) – May 25
Stephen Black, president and founder of Impact America, will keynote the higher education track at Iowa Ideas 2017. Black will speak Thursday, September 21 in Cedar Rapids … Black is also the founder of the Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility at The University of Alabama where he has served as director since 2004.

University Students Innovate At Nasa’s Robotic Mining Competition
Spaceflight Insider – May 25
Students from dozens of universities across the United States gathered at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for NASA’s 2017 Robotic Mining Competition (NRMC). Students showcased and competed with their robotic concepts, which could potentially be used by NASA on actual future off-Earth mining. . . . Johanboeke said that the criterion of complete autonomy was added around four years ago. An example from this year’s competition was the University of Alabama. They concluded their scheduled 10-minute segment completely autonomously. Not one member on the team touched the controls after they pressed the start button for the entire 10 minutes the team had to complete their assigned time. At the end of the first run, the University of Alabama team had collected 358.5 pounds (162.6 kilograms) of regolith.

How Graphene Could Help Auto Manufacturers
R&D – May 24
An experiment conducted at the University of Alabama (UA) indicates graphene could be beneficial for car companies. A student team at UA taking part in a national competition called EcoCar3, developed a fully functional hybrid car that simultaneously uses less energy and emits less pollution without sacrificing factors like performance, safety, and consumer appeal. As part of this project, the team successfully fabricated a lighter hood created from graphene into a Chevy Camaro, proving the cutting-edge material can work on a consumer car. The graphene was created by a venture called Graphenics, founded by Dr. Rachel Frazier, who served as the assistant director of the Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs Center at UA.

Congrats … Trisha Bheemanathini and Slade Haney
Annistion Star – May 25
Trisha Bheemanathini and Slade Haney, two seventh-grade students from the Donoho School are among students being honored by the Duke University Talent Identification Program for their exceptional scores on the ACT or SAT. They were recognized May 8 at a ceremony at the University of Alabama.