MONDAY, AUG. 14 – SUNDAY, AUG. 20
RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY SELECTED FOR START-UP PROGRAM – A UA research group is part of a national program, NSF I-Corps Teams, aimed at taking technology from the lab to the market. The UA technology is a method to reliably send electricity from a renewable energy source, such as a solar cell, to the power grid. For more information, contact Adam Jones, communications, at 205-348-4328 or adam.jones@ua.edu.
TREATING THE WHOLE PERSON FOCUS OF $1 MILLION NURSING GRANT — Drs. Monika Wedgeworth and Joshua Eyer, faculty in UA’s Capstone College of Nursing, were recently awarded a $976,918 nursing education program grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration for their project “Gateway Capstone: Interprofessional Behavioral Health for Walker County.” The project integrates behavioral health into the services provided by the Capstone Rural Health Center, which is a nurse-managed federally qualified health center — one of only a handful in the nation funded as a nurse-managed center. The health center serves as the main primary care provider for financially disadvantaged residents of Walker County. For more information, contact Kim Eaton, communications, at 205-348-8325 or kim.eaton@ua.edu.
PROFESSORS EARN FULBRIGHTS — Two professors — Dr. Samantha Hansen and Dr. Gregory Starr — will pursue work and research through the U.S. Fulbright Scholars Program in 2017 and 2018. Hansen, associate professor of geological sciences, will be in Greece for the fall semester, working at the National Observatory of Athens. She will combine seismic data from a countrywide seismograph network with her tomographic imaging technique — producing images to develop models for the Hellenic Subduction Zone. The area is known for its large magnitude earthquakes and tsunamis. Starr, professor of biological sciences, will spend six months in France starting in January 2018. He will work with the French National Institute for Agricultural Research on a project titled “Food Security and Human Populations Growth: Trading Water for Carbon to Increase Food Production for the 21st Century.” For more details, contact Richard LeComte, communications, richard.lecomte@ua.edu, 205-348-3782.
BEST BETS
ALABAMA ACTION — UA’s Honors College continues as a transformative force in West Alabama through its Alabama Action, Outdoor Action, Black Belt Action and Health Action programs. The service projects, in Tuscaloosa, Marion and elsewhere, will run from Monday, Aug. 14, to Friday, Aug. 18, before the start of the fall 2017 semester. About 165 freshmen and 36 student leaders will work on beautification projects at Huntington Place Elementary School and Echols Middle School. Activities include painting restrooms and cafeterias, landscaping, updating a pavilion and painting murals. The media are invited to Huntington Place Elementary School from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16, at 11601 Huntington Place, to observe UA Honors College students working on the grounds. For details, contact Richard LeComte, communications, richard.lecomte@ua.edu, 205/394-3040.
HISTORY PROFESSOR’S SCREENPLAY ON CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER WINS FIRST PLACE –In 2009, UA history professor Dr. David Beito and his wife, Dr. Linda Royster Beito, released a book called “Black Maverick,” a biography about the unsung story of black civil rights pioneer Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, known as T.R.M. Howard. The professor followed up with a screenplay of Howard’s life. “Keepin’ It Mighty Hot,” was selected for first-place in the Alabama Writers’ Conclave 2017 Screenwriting Competition. Watch for a news release. For more details, contact Jamon Smith, UA communications, jamon.smith@ua.edu, 205-348-4956.
WEEK OF WELCOME – UA’s Week of Welcome for new and returning students starts Saturday, Aug. 19, and features the Yea Alabama! Kickoff barbecue Aug. 21, the Script A formation at Bryant-Denny Stadium Aug. 22 and Welcome Back breakfasts Aug. 23 and 24. Media will be asked to present credentials to cover the Script A formation at the stadium. For more events, go to https://wow.sa.ua.edu/events/2017-08/. For more details, contact Richard LeComte, UA communications, richard.lecomte@ua.edu, 205-348-3782.
LOOKING AHEAD
UA VIEWING SOLAR ECLIPSE – Tuscaloosa is set for a partial eclipse Aug. 21. Dr. Dean Townsley, associate professor of physics and astronomy, will have equipment to project a sun image and a table with eclipse viewing glasses, for UA students, on the Quad from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also, glasses will be available for freshman attending the Yea Alabama kickoff BBQ on the Quad, held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact Adam Jones, communications, at 205-348-4328 or adam.jones@ua.edu.