University of Alabama researchers seek spot-on way to weld super-strong steel
Alabama News Center – Jan. 25
As cars have gotten sleeker and lighter over the decades, nostalgia about cars of yesteryear often romanticize their sturdiness – huge boxes of steel ready to take on any impact. It is a memory often not rooted in the reality of the safety of today’s vehicles. “People have dismissed the idea of lighter cars for decades because you feel safer in a big, heavy car, but that’s not always the case. If I can make something out of a stronger steel, I can use less steel,” said Dr. Luke Brewer, an engineering researcher at the University of Alabama. “It’s all about saving weight while maintaining crash worthiness.”
Alabama cyber security programs ramp up amid rising threats
Made in Alabama – Jan. 25
Universities are boosting their research efforts in the field of cyber security, along with programs that produce highly skilled graduates … At the University of Alabama Cyber Institute, there have been new additions to the staff, as well as a refocusing of research and academic priorities.
Female CEOs are way likelier than men to get targeted by activist investors. Here’s why
Moneyish – Jan. 26
Even after they’ve broken the glass ceiling, women leaders aren’t home free. A recent study reveals that activist shareholders are significantly likelier to target companies led by female chief execs than their male counterparts, and negative stereotypes about women are a big reason why … “We matched the sample so that a female-led firms were compared to male-led firms that were similar in a number of characteristics,” Sandra Mortal, a finance professor at the University of Alabama and a study co-author, tells Moneyish.
Tuscaloosa Tennis Association sees increase in membership, participation
Tuscaloosa News – Jan. 26
The Tuscaloosa Tennis Association set a healthy, but slightly lofty, membership goal in 2017. It not only made that goal of 350 members, it exceeded it by 20, making the organization 370 members strong. . . . Last year the club, with the help of a USTA grant, began offering Apprentice Tennis for wheelchair players. The University of Alabama’s wheelchair tennis coach, Evan Enquist, teaches those players. There was a summer tennis camp for kids on the West End, events with Alabama’s men’s and women’s tennis teams and UA’s wheelchair tennis team, tennis mixers and a new program with Stillman College where it opens its tennis courts to the public on certain nights.