Dixon First to Receive Southeastern Conference Outstanding Faculty Award

Dr. David Dixon, Robert Ramsay Chair in the Department of Chemistry, was named The University of Alabama’s first recipient of a new award that honors professors from universities in the Southeastern Conference with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship. As a recipient of the SEC Faculty Achievement Award, Dixon will receive a $5,000 honorarium and become UA’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year, who will receive an additional $15,000 honorarium.

As a faculty mentor to many of the College’s top students, Dixon has directly supervised more than 40 undergraduate student researchers, 13 doctoral students, and four post-doctoral fellows since he joined the College’s Department of Chemistry in 2004.

A noted researcher, his work is presently supported by nearly $1.5 million annually in external funding. Dixon has published more than 560 papers on a wide range of topics and is considered a world leader in the application of numerical simulation to chemical problems. A computational chemist, he uses numerical simulation and high performance computing to solve complex chemical problems. His work has been cited more than 13,000 times by other scientists in their research papers.

In 2010, Dixon received a Hydrogen Program Research and Development Award for “Outstanding Contributions to Hydrogen Storage Technologies” for his contribution to the overall efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Center of Excellence in Chemical Hydrogen Storage.

Last March, Dixon co-authored a paper, published in the journal Science, describing a method for recycling a hydrogen fuel source. Dixon and his colleagues from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, along with his students, demonstrated that a lightweight material, ammonia borane, can be a feasible material for storing hydrogen on vehicles.

Practical, efficient and affordable storage of hydrogen has been one of the challenges in making the powering of electrical motors via hydrogen fuel cells a viable alternative to traditional gasoline powered engines. Benefits of hydrogen fuel cell technology include cleaner air and less dependence on foreign oil.

In presenting the awards, the SEC becomes the only Division I conference within the National Collegiate Athletic Association currently recognizing university faculty for their achievements, unrelated to athletics or student-athletes. Chosen by a selection committee of SEC Provosts, the SEC Faculty Achievement Awards and the SEC Professor of the Year Award are part of a set of non-athletically related academic initiatives the conference has undertaken through its SEC Academic Consortium to encourage academic leadership and collaboration.

Scottsboro Boys Museum Project Recognized by UA Center for Community Based Partnerships

A collaborative project to assist the Scottsboro Boys Museum in sharing the important history of the Scottsboro boys with the public brought together faculty and students from across the College and The University of Alabama. Recently their efforts were honored with the Faculty Award for Community Engagement from The University of Alabama Center for Community Based Partnerships, presented at the CCBP annual luncheon last month.

The museum first opened its doors in 2010, and commemorates the lives of the Scottsboro boys, who became symbols of the injustice of Jim Crow laws in the South during the 1930s. The site of the museum is the former Joyce Chapel United Methodist Church in Scottsboro, Ala.

UA students collaborated with museum personnel to research and develop information that would be used in a new website and educational materials for the museum. Thomas Reidy, a doctoral candidate in the Department of History, researched information for the project by visiting key sites along the historic route to identify archival research sites.

The project was developed by Dr. Ellen Griffith Spears, an assistant professor in the Department of American Studies and New College, and Dr. James Hall, director of New College. They developed the concept with Sheila Washington, director of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center.

“Having such institutional support for engaged scholarship from the University through the Center for Community-Based Partnerships is wonderful,” Spears said. “Opportunities such as the Scottsboro Museum project open intellectual and career avenues for students.”

Other students in the College who participated in the project include Bonnie Applebeet, a 2011 master’s graduate of the Department of American Studies; Jennifer Barnett, a 2012 master’s graduate of Gender and Race Studies; Mo Fiorella, a May 2012 graduate of New College and a master’s student in UA’s book arts program; and Stephanie Ballard, a senior in New College. Sarah Thornburg, a 2011 master’s graduate of the School of Library and Information Studies, also assisted with the research.

Andy Ray, a December 2011 graduate of the Culverhouse College of Business Administration, developed the website for the museum, which can be found at www.scottsborotrials.org.

The project was funded by grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Ford Foundation and was also supported by UA’s Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility and the Summersell Center for the Study of the South.

History Professor John Beeler named one of Princeton Review’s Best 300 Professors

When students have a positive experience with a college professor, it is easy to call them one of the best, but Dr. John Beeler, a professor in the Department of History, can truly say he is one of the best in the country. Beeler was named one of the country’s best undergraduate teachers in the popular Princeton Review’s Best 300 Professors, published this month. Educators represented in the book were chosen from a group of approximately 42,000 professors across the country.

The Princeton Review selected the professors for the book based on qualitative and quantitative data from survey findings and ratings about classroom experiences and teacher assessments collected from students from across the country.

Beeler received his doctoral degree from Illinois University in 1991 and joined the College’s Department of History in 1993. In 1999, he was honored with the University of Alabama Alumni Association’s Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award, he was a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Fellow 2001-03, and in 2009 he was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa honor society.

“History matters because it is the story of us. Alone among academic disciplines it is concerned with the whole range of human thought, activity, and accomplishments,” Beeler says in the publication.

Beeler says the challenge for his students is to break down the idea that history is boring and to motivate students to learn. He wants students to learn more than facts about the past, and he wants to convince them to think for themselves, rather than relying on authority.

Described by his students as “dynamic,” “entertaining,” “interesting,” and “intelligent,” Beeler teaches courses in Western Civilization, Great Britain and the British Empire, and the history of the United States Navy.

UA’s Goldwater Scholars Have College Ties

Three students from The University of Alabama were selected to receive the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, and all three of them have ties to the College of Arts and Sciences. Hisham Ali, Sarah Johnson and Stephen Walker were chosen from a pool of 1,123 nominees nationwide to receive the award, which includes a $7,500 scholarship. A fourth College student, Chelsea Raulerson, received an honorable mention.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation annually selects students who are studying mathematics, science, and engineering. The scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

Hisham K. Ali of Muscle Shoals, Ala., is an aerospace engineering major with minors in Computer-Based Honors and mathematics. After doing graduate work, Ali plans to pursue a career contributing directly to spaceflight knowledge and spacecraft development as a research engineer and professor focused in the fields of spacecraft propulsion and structural design. Ali has received the Computer-Based Honors Outstanding Sophomore award, the Charles L. Seebeck Endowed Scholarship and the AIAA Outstanding Junior award.

Sarah E. Johnson of Mesquite, Texas, is majoring in history and mechanical engineering with a minor in Computer-Based Honors. Johnson is currently researching combustion systems aimed at improving the efficiency and emissions of alcohol-gas fuel blends during engine cold starts and plans to pursue a career in research as a university professor with a focus on combustion and propulsion systems. A 2011 NOAA Hollings Scholar, she serves as an officer in the UA sections of the Society of Women Engineers.

Stephen A. Walker of Trussville, Ala., is a chemistry major with a minor in Computer-Based Honors. Walker is researching ways to develop a method of storing nuclear waste and the reprocessing of spent fuels. He hopes to establish a research career in neuropharmacology, with a focus on treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Walker has earned a fellowship in the Computer-Based Honors program and been the recipient of the Presidential Scholarship and Million Dollar Band Scholarship.

Chelsea ‘Raulie’ Raulerson of Houston, Texas, is majoring in biological sciences with minors in chemistry and Computer-Based Honors. Her research focuses on the swimming performance of a model organism, the mangrove rivulus. She plans to pursue a doctorate in cancer biology and a career as a professor to conduct research in epigenetics as it relates to an individual’s susceptibility to certain cancers. Raulerson has received the Michael L. McDaniel Memorial Endowed Scholarship from the Department of Biological Sciences and the Jane Nix Outstanding Service Award from the Computer-Based Honors program.

College’s Ninth Undergraduate Research Conference Names Winners

For the ninth year in a row, the College hosted an undergraduate research conference to showcase the exceptional research being done by students at The University of Alabama. This year there were 120 presentations made by 147 students at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium. This is also the fifth year that The University of Alabama has held a campus-wide conference.

Awards were distributed to the best oral presentations and posters in each of the College’s three divisions: social sciences, humanities and fine and performing arts, sciences and mathematics. The top three winners from each division include:

Oral Winners, Division of Social Sciences:

• First Place: Isabela Morales, Department of History, “Letters from a Planter’s Daughter: Understanding Freedom and Independence in the Life of Susanna Townsend (1853‐1869)”
• Second Place: Paige Bussanich, Department of Psychology and Shika Mukkamala, Human Development & Family Studies, “Down syndrome and Emotional Expressivity further explored”
• Third Place: Matthew Bailey, Department of Political Science, “The American ‘Dream’ and the Disadvantages that Minorities face in America”

Oral Winners, Division of Fine Arts and Humanities:

• First Place: Ashley Frazier, School of Music, “The Role of Music Therapy in the State of Alabama’s Early Intervention Curriculum”
• Second Place: Catherine (Kelsie) Dodson, Department of Art and Art History, “How the Narrative Explanations of Lonnie Holley’s Abstract Artworks Detract from their Aesthetic Worth”
• Third Place: Tiffany Reese, Department of Gender and Race Studies, “I Put On: Blackness and Cultural Appropriation”

Oral Winners, Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics:

• First Place: Jessica Duke, Department of Chemistry, “Modeling Water in Supercritical CO2 and Reactions at Mineral Surfaces for the Geological Sequestration of CO2”
• Second Place: Erica Schwalm, Department of Chemistry, “Allosteric Regulation of Alpha‐Isopropylmalate Synthase”
• Third Place: Kay Rainey, Department of Biological Sciences, “Temperature‐Dependent Sex Determination in a Hermaphroditic Fish: A Direct Look at Genes vs. Environment”

Poster Presentation Winners, Division of Social Sciences:

• First Place: Tie: Stephanie Glaze, Department of Psychology, “Spontaneous Imitation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders” and Ted “Clay” Nelson, Department of Anthropology, “Magnetometry and Ground Truthing Excavations at Actuncan, Belize”
• Second Place: Ally Sequeira and Paige Bussanich, Department of Psychology, “Autism Symptoms in Non‐Autistic Participants”
• Third Place: Dylan Sandy, Department of Mathematics, “Leadership and Aggression”

Poster Presentation Winners, Division of Fine Arts and Humanities:

• First Place: Greg Randall and Joe Robertson, Department of Art and Art History, “Discovering Photogravure”
• Second Place: Jameson Sanford, Department of Theatre and Dance, “The Seagull” Scenic Design Production
• Third Place: Blake Franklin, School of Music, “ The Effects of a Single Music Therapy Session on the Mood of Cancer Patients”

Poster Presentation Winners, Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics:

• First Place: Koushik Kasanagottu, Hae dong Kim, and Yi Chen, Department of Biological Sciences, “Investigating the mechanism for α‐synuclein induced neuropathology”
• Second Place: Stephanie Troy, Department of Geological Sciences, “Mysterious Patches”

To learn more about the conference and its winners, visit: http://www.as.ua.edu/undergraduateresearch/presenting-your-work/ua-undergraduate-research-and-creative-activity-symposium/

Undergraduate Art Student Wins Prestigious Windgate Scholarship

Adam Hill, a BFA student in the Department of Art and Art History from Douglasville, Ga., was one of 10 students nationwide to receive the Windgate Fellowship from the University of North Carolina’s Center for Craft, Creativity and Design. The $15,000 fellowship is one of the largest student art awards in the United States.

Over 70 universities from across the United States were invited to each nominate two graduating seniors with exemplary skill in craft. Applicants provided images of their work and a proposal outlining how the $15,000 would enhance their career.

A panel of distinguished artists, educators and industry experts reviewed the 114 applications and advanced 21 students to the final round of consideration, which included an in-person meeting with the selection panel. The panel then selected the 10 fellows, who each received a $15,000 award to complete a proposal supported by the Windgate Charitable Foundation.

“My work as a sculptor began when I came to college, but my need to create things has been evident for as long as I could hold a pencil,” said Hill, noting that he had only worked in two-dimensional art prior to his enrollment at UA.

“I was never exposed to sculpture until I was given a tour of our metal shop at the University of Alabama. I immediately became fascinated with tools and the processes involving metal work.

“Fine craftsmanship, a fading value in our culture, can be preserved by awards like the Windgate Fellowship. I intend to express my efforts through my craft and hope to influence the creative patterns of others,” Hill said.

Hill said his work is inspired by human personalities and interactions. “When making sculpture, I think about what makes people tick. An individual’s thought pattern and psychological motives are highly interesting to me and inspirational to my sculpture.”

Research Team Works to Create Cost Effective Agricultural Technology

A team of researchers in the Department of Biological Sciences is using technology rooted in the development of the atomic bomb in World War II to try to lower the costs of growing crops. Robert Martinez, a post-doctoral fellow in the department, and his colleagues developed a company called Microgreen Technologies, in the hopes that they can take their research to a commercial level.

The research uses a cost-effective, environmentally sustainable agricultural crop fertilizer that delivers phosphate to plant roots through beneficial bacteria. Phosphates are used in fertilizers and are often a costly necessity for farmers. Reducing the amount of phosphates to produce similar results would save farmers money.

Martinez, a microbiologist, said the researchers have isolated the bacteria, which occurs naturally in soil. The team plans to do greenhouse tests on different plants and different soils. If those tests prove satisfactory, its product could be tested next on fields in West Alabama.

Their research got a recent boost by winning a $30,000 grant in the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama’s business plan competition in Birmingham, which is run in cooperation with other state universities.

Give a Gift to the College

Desktop News brings alumni, friends and students stories of discovery and distinction from the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please send these to:

Rebecca Florence
Director of College Relations
College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Alabama
(205) 348-8663

News from the College is edited by Kelli Wright, communications specialist, College of Arts and Sciences, with web management by Amy Garner, web developer.