Awards – Page 14 – College of Arts & Sciences

Distinguished University Research Professor Honored with Burnum Award

May 6, 2016

From the May 2016 Desktop News |Highly-regarded for his research, Dr. Arunava Gupta, Distinguished University Research Professor, is this year’s recipient of the Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award, one of the highest honors bestowed on professors at The University of Alabama. Gupta, who holds a joint appointment in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering and is associate director of UA’s Center for Materials for Information Technology, is widely known for his expertise in investigating thin films and […]

Musician Recognized Internationally

April 27, 2016

From the 2016 Celebrating Excellence | When Cynthia Simpson was 10 years old, she had no intention of becoming a professional musician—and certainly not a professional French horn player. She was in fifth grade at the time, and her father was the band director at her school. He needed horn players, so she played horn. She couldn’t have guessed that 15 years later, as a graduate student at The University of Alabama, she would be ranked the second best French […]

Dancers Awarded Summer Scholarships to Top Jazz Institution

April 7, 2016

From the April 2016 Desktop News | Three UA dance majors will spend an entire month this summer dancing in Chicago at Gus Giordano Dance—one of the best dance institutions for jazz training. “Gus Giordano is one of the oldest and largest institutions for training dancers in the professional world,” said Cornelius Carter, the director of UA’s dance program. “When a student is able to attend a school of this caliber, it really gives them the opportunity to be viewed […]

NSF Dissertation Grant Being Used to Conduct Research at Moundville

April 7, 2016

Erik Porth will be analyzing these ancient sherds from Moundville in order to learn more about the civilization's social structures and decline.

From the April 2016 Desktop News | Despite the extensive excavations that have been done at the Moundville Archaeological Park since 1939, Moundville’s decline—and its social organization—are largely shrouded in mystery. But with the help of a $9,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, University of Alabama doctoral student Erik Porth and his dissertation adviser, Dr. John Blitz, are hoping to uncover some of the secrets. “Social organization doesn’t fossilize,” said Blitz, a UA professor in the Department of Anthropology. […]

Professor Knighted by French Government

March 7, 2016

From the March 2016 Desktop News | Dr. Michael Picone, a professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, didn’t get a white horse or a suit of armor, and no one tapped him on the shoulder with a sword, but on January 29, he was officially decorated with the Palmes Académiques distinction by the French Ministry of Education—making him a French knight in the Order of the Academic Palms. “It is a recognition for the wonderful work he has been […]

UA Alumna and Artist Receives International Awards

March 7, 2016

From the March 2016 Desktop News | Susan McCollough, an internationally recognized artist and alumna from The University of Alabama, recently won one of Florence, Italy’s most prestigious art awards and has been invited to participate in several international exhibitions. Her prize, the International Prize Leonardo Da Vinci—The Universal Artist, was awarded in January at the Borghese Palace in Florence. She was also invited to share her work at various exhibits between January and May in cities across the globe—New York […]

Alumnus Awarded for Contributions to Southern Literature

March 7, 2016

From the March 2016 Desktop News | Due to the large contributions historian and alumnus Dr. Harvey Jackson III has made to the literature of the South, The University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences, along with the journalism department, recently honored him with the 2016 Clarence Cason Award in Nonfiction Writing. “I grew up with a natural interest in history because I grew up around people who talked about history,” Jackson said. And in the 50 years since […]

UA Physicists Share in Breakthrough Prize

January 13, 2016

From the January 2016 Desktop News | A team of University of Alabama physicists recently received recognition for making key contributions to a landmark study of neutrinos that won the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The $3 million prize, which was divided between five international teams, celebrates a series of experiments demonstrating that neutrinos—neutral subatomic particles and fundamental constituents of matter—have mass and that they change character as they travel through space. Before this work, neutrinos were believed to be […]

Good News for Female Political Candidates

January 13, 2016

From the January 2016 Desktop News | When it comes to politics, research suggests that stereotypes often put women at a disadvantage. Female candidates—more than their male counterparts—must appear to be tough leaders without sacrificing their image as nurturers in order to win over voters: If they come off too strong, they lose votes. And if they’re not strong enough, they lose votes. So why would female candidates risk their chances of being elected by using negative campaign ads? Dr. […]

Biologist, alumnus receives 2016 Harper Lee Award

December 17, 2015

Noted biologist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson has been selected to receive the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year for 2016. The award is made to a living, nationally recognized Alabama writer who has made a significant, lifelong contribution to Alabama letters. Wilson will receive the honor during the Awards Dinner at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville, Alabama, on March 31, 2016. “Although—perhaps because—I’m primarily a scientist, I’m doubly honored to receive […]