UA grad students work on project in Antarctica
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 22
…Questions about intergalactic messengers sent two University of Alabama graduate students to one of the most extreme climates on Earth. James Pepper and Donglian Xu, two graduate students in astrophysics, spent two weeks in Antarctica last month working on a project known as IceCube. They were part of a team of scientists helping to calibrate a detector that has been built into the ice of the South Pole to better study violent astronomical events like exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, black holes and neutron stars…Although Pepper and Xu enjoyed the time they spent at the South Pole, they do not plan to return. Instead, they are shifting their focus back to monitoring the detector from UA. In Alabama, Pepper works with scientists from around the world to make a live view of the detector, while Xu researches the properties of neutrinos to help better understand their scientific significance. “We are looking for extremely high energy neutrinos that come from supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts and other intergalactic events,” she said. “Correlating the number and energy of the detected neutrinos with those events will help us explain their nature as well as help us to understand the source of dark energy and dark matter.”
Mideast unrest affects local gas prices
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 22
… “Libya is the first major oil-producing nation” to be hit by widespread violence, said Peter Clark, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Alabama. Egypt produces some oil and controls its shipment through the Suez Canal. Oil prices rose after the revolt there, but they had begun to ebb because it is not as vital to the oil markets. Libya, on the other hand, has raised anxiety levels, particularly as major oil companies have curtailed operations there as they evacuate personnel, he said. Clark, who closely follows the oil and natural gas industry, said Libya, one of the 12 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, produces 1.5 million to 2 million barrels of oil daily…Libyan oil is important but other nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, could make up its production, Clark said…
UA Gadsden Center to host open house
Gadsden Times – Feb. 22
The University of Alabama Gadsden Center is hosting an information open house for prospective students at noon Saturday. Information will be available about the center’s programs, including educational administration, educational leadership, higher education administration, instructional leadership, elementary education, secondary education, special education, library and information studies, social work and management. Faculty and staff will be available to answer questions.