Community Assessment Of Social Services For Shelby County
This project was developed to conduct an assessment of the current and anticipated social services needs of the citizens of Shelby County, Alabama. The assessment included interviews with key community leaders and directors of key social service agencies and a survey of the general population of Shelby County. Using a mixed-methods approach, the results from the interviews and surveys were synthesized to 1) identify how key informants visualized the future of social services, 2) identify areas where there…
Comprehensive Cancer Control
Alabama’s cancer incidence rate and cancer mortality rate for both males and females are significantly higher than the national rates. The Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition (ACCCC) is a statewide network of physicians, organizations, medical groups, cancer patients, cancer survivors and interested individuals dedicated to reducing the impact and burden of cancer on Alabama. ACCCC, supported by administrators at the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), partners with ISSR to evaluate implementation and outcomes of…
Hale County Middle School 21st Century Community Learning Center
Hale County Middle School (HCMS) is a Title 1 school located in rural Alabama with 64% of students receiving free/reduced lunch subsidies. Academically, the school is underperforming relative to state and national norms. Based on 2018-2019 data: 14.9% of HCMS students were considered as chronic absentees, missing 15 or more days of school in a year. Alabama State assessments of academic performance (Scantron Performance Series Test) indicated that two-thirds of students failed to make proficiency…
NSF EPSCoR RII: Individual Based Talent Bridge from Minority Institutions to Graduate School and Energy Industry
The UA Graduate School’s Strategic Graduate Partnerships Initiative and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, worked together to develop this program that partners with Stillman College, Fort Valley State University and Jackson State University to prepare undergraduate students for graduate programs, industry careers and entrepreneurial opportunities in renewable energy. The five-year project was awarded through the NSF’s Bridging Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, Communities, also known as RII-BEC. Project goals include enhancing the…
NSF IRES Site: Fractional–Order Circuits and Systems Research Collaboration with EU COST Action
This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) takes place at the Brno University of Technology (BUT) in Czechia. The site will recruit 6 undergraduate students from the University of Alabama (UA) each of the 3 program years (ending in 2024) to participate in 11-week research experiences focused on fractional-order circuits and systems under the supervision of faculty from BUT in the Czech Republic. Fractional-order circuits and systems were selected as the theme for this site…
NSF IRES: Innovative Macromolecular and Polymer Research Experience in San Sebastian
This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) recruits seven undergraduate students from the University of Alabama (UA) during each of the 3 program years (Ending in 2024) to participate in 8-week research experiences focused on macromolecular and polymer materials under the supervision of faculty from POLYMAT/UPV (Universidad de Pais Vasco/University of the Basque Country) in San Sebastian, Spain (Figure 1). Polymers (commonly referred to as “plastics”) were selected as the theme for this IRES Site…
NSF IRES: U.S.-Australia Innovations of Solar Materials and Solar Cells
This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) site will provide the platform for five U.S. undergraduate students per year, beginning in 2023) at The University of Alabama (UA) to learn the cutting edge innovative solar technology from a world-class research institute, at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) in The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney, Australia). Solar energy represents the richest renewable energy source in the world. Converting solar energy…
NSF REU Site: Engineering Sensors, Systems, and signal Processing for Speech Pathology
In this project, funded by the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, 9 students were recruited per year (3 years, ending in 2022) to participate in a10-week, hands-on, multi-disciplinary summer research experience. REU activities were shared across the facilities of the College of Engineering, the Department of Communicative Disorders, and the Speech and Hearing Clinic at UA, under the supervision of faculty from all units. All student projects apply engineering principles to develop technologies…
NSF REU Site: Fluid Mechanics with Analysis Using Computations and Experiments (FM-ACE)
In this NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) project, 10-12 students per year (3 years, ending in 2019) engaged in a 10-week summer intensive research program, conducting research in fluid mechanics. The field of fluid mechanics is unique in its ability to be visually captivating, making it an excellent area of research for motivating students to pursue graduate study. It is also multidisciplinary in nature as a wide range of engineering disciplines require varying depths…
NSF S-STEM: Learning in Advance Evaluation
The Learning in Advance (LIA) project is funded through the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (S-STEM) program. This 5-year project offers, in three engineering departments, a one-credit hour preparatory course that introduces students to fundamental concepts before they encounter these concepts in a gateway course for their major. In addition, students who are deemed eligible based on FAFSA and are U.S. citizens are considered for an S-STEM scholarship after successful completion of…
NSF S-STEM: Learning in Advance Research Study
The Learning in Advance (LIA) project is funded through the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (S-STEM) program. LIA students take a one-credit hour preparatory course introducing them to fundamental concepts before they encounter these concepts in a gateway course for their major. In addition, students who are deemed eligible based on FAFSA are considered for an S-STEM scholarship after successful completion of the LIA prep course. These LIA Scholars are also assigned…
NSF Scholarship for Service: SFS@Bama
CyberCorps® Scholarship For Service (SFS) is a unique program designed to recruit and train the next generation of information technology professionals, industrial control system security professionals, and security managers to meet the needs of the cyber security mission for Federal, State, local, and tribal governments. This program provides scholarships for up to 3 years of support for cyber security undergraduate and graduate education. The scholarships are funded through grants awarded by the National Science Foundation.…
NSF The Effects of Socio-cultural Context on Human Bio-Markets
The research supported by this award investigates the effects of socio-cultural context on the governance of human bio-material donation and sale. Over the past few decades, medical science has increased the potential uses of human bio-materials. However, as innovation has increased, so have questions about costs, outcomes, and ethics. In response, a variety of different regulatory policies have been adopted globally. This variation across countries provides an excellent opportunity for comparative research to see to…
NSF-funded Projects on International Conflict Data (ICD)
The International Conflict Data (ICD) Project has been awarded multiple NSF grants to collect and apply data on international conflict covering the period 1816-2014. Data collections have included NSF-funded research to determine how and why conflicts have ended, how conflicts evolved using day-level militarized events, the issues fought over during conflicts, and strategic selection in conflict data. Current NSF funding is being used to examine the role of non-state actors in international conflicts.
Teaching Ethics Using Problem-Based Learning in Freshman Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering (NSF IUSE)
This project, funded through the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program, investigates problem-based learning as an effective methodology to instill ethics as a foundation during students’ enrollment in an introductory ECE course. During the three years of this project, ethical problems in electrical engineering will be introduced to undergraduate students working in teams using either traditional lecture-based activities or problem-based learning activities developed by the principal investigators. Students are assessed through their course-work assignments…
Tuscaloosa Parks and Recreation
The Elevate Tuscaloosa project is a research collaboration with the City of Tuscaloosa’s Office of Urban development. The project focused on examining perceptions of residents about the parks and recreation facilities in Tuscaloosa. Drs. Daquin and Dunlap developed and administered the survey to Tuscaloosa residents. Project goals included: (1) identifying how residents use parks and recreation facilities, (2) understanding why some residents do not use the parks, and (3) identifying amenities and features residents would…
Worlds of Work Evaluation
Worlds of Work (WoW) is an annual career exposition for middle and high school students in West Alabama. The program is sponsored by West Alabama Works, a regional workforce development agency. The two-day event is designed to expose students to career opportunities in the region that are aligned with workforce needs in West Alabama, including manufacturing, education, healthcare, and more. Held at Shelton State Community College, students have the opportunity to engage in hands-on authentic…
Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)
The NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program is a national effort to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups in the science, technology, engineering and math fields. In 2016, UA was awarded a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to head the Alabama LSAMP program, which is an alliance of four-year institutions, community colleges, high schools, and industry partners. ALSAMP began as one of several similar alliance across…
Variation in the LSAMP Summer Bridge Program: Effects on STEM Self-Efficacy, Belonging, and Intentions
To address the challenges facing racial minority students majoring in STEM during the transition from high school to college, NSF funded Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) programs throughout the country implement summer bridge programs. Bridge programs vary in their focus on professional development, academic support, research experiences, social activities, and in other areas, but all share an intention to support students during their transition to college. Beyond retention, little is known about how…
Gender, STEM, and Career Interests
Despite great advances in some areas of science such as biology, the gender gap remains significant in many occupations in the fields of science, computing, engineering, and math. This suggests that innovative educational programs, although often effective in changing enrollment and performance in science and math courses, have not been broadly effective in altering girls’ and women’s career choices. In our work we examine a number of factors that might account for this phenomenon: Social-contextual…
Farm Theater: A Novel Safety Strategy Approach for Agricultural Communities
The increasing age of U.S. farmers, coupled with health challenges as age advances, create a high-risk work environment for older farmers. A preliminary study noted that the farm community desires to learn from each other, using stories and humor, rather than from age-based guidelines or brochures. A novel intervention, didactic readers theater is being tested among farm communities in the Southeast U.S. with farm couples ages 45 and over. The investigators partner with local agricultural…
Student Performance under the Alabama Accountability Act
The Alabama Accountability Act (AAA), passed by the Alabama State Legislature in 2013 and amended in 2015, established a statewide scholarship program for low-income students to attend public or private schools. The scholarship program is funded by a tax credit program, and the scholarship awards are managed by Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs), which must comply with standards set by the AAA. All students receiving scholarships must meet family income eligibility requirements. Priority is given to…
Tobacco Prevention and Control Programs
Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Approximately 480,000 people die in the U.S. each year due to tobacco-related illnesses (CDC, 2014). In order to reduce the health and economic burden of tobacco use in Alabama, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) develops and implements statewide efforts to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use and to monitor the use and control of…
Alabama’s Workforce
These statewide telephone surveys, conducted in collaboration with the Center for Business and Economic Research, assess the characteristics of Alabama’s workforce including levels of underemployment and unemployment.
Tobacco Beliefs, Behaviors, and Attitudes in Alabama
This bi-annual statewide telephone survey assesses the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes of Alabama residents regarding tobacco use.
Race Relations at The University of Alabama
The year 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of integration at The University of Alabama. A team of University researchers developed a study to understand the status of race relations on campus. This study is patterned after a study conducted by researchers at the University from the 1960’s to the 1980’s and allowed researchers to compare the current situation with that of years past. Dr. Debra McCallum has teamed up with other researchers from The University…
Student Shopping Survey
The shopping and spending patterns of UA students were investigated in this 2020 online survey. It replicated surveys conducted in 2011 and 2015.