Author: stratcomm_admin

Samuel Griffin and Jake Webster – UA Robotics Team/Engineering

 
The robot built by UA students for the NASA competition
Engineering graduate students Samuel Griffin and Jake Webster were part of The University of Alabama robotics team, known as Alabama Astrobotics, that won top prize at the NASA Robotic Mining Competition in May 2017. The event challenges student teams to build a robot capable of navigating and excavating simulated Martian soil. One day, the robotic technologies developed by students for this competition could be used in off-world resource-mining missions to sustain human outposts. During the competition’s seven-year history, a UA team has won four times  and for three consecutive years. This year’s UA team successfully competed against student teams from 45 other institutions for the win. Griffin is pursuing a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. Webster is a doctoral student in mechanical engineering. Read the full story.   
Alabama Astrobotics, a team of UA students, won top prize for the third straight year at a NASA competition.

Workshop: Submitting a Thesis or Dissertation

  • April 12th, 2017
  • in News
Hands-on run through of the process to submit your thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School using the ProQuest portal.
If you need help with your thesis or dissertation submission, each of these workshops will take you through the following:
  • Show you the ProQuest submission portal
  • Assist you with establishing your unique submission account
  • Take you through set up and data input
  • Demonstrate how to create a PDF from your digital thesis or dissertation
  • Review publication options and agreements
  • Consider embargo options
  • Review of copyright and registration
  • Ordering bound copies
  • The process once you have submitted
At the end of the workshop you will:
  • Have an understanding of the submission process using the ProQuest portal
  • Understand some of the terminology and options for copyright, publication, and embargo
  • Know how to convert your original digital thesis or dissertation to PDF

Workshop schedule for 2017:
  • Friday, March 3rd                          09:00am – 10:30am
  • Wednesday, June 14th                   09:00am – 10:30am
  • Wednesday, September 20th         09:00am – 10:30am
Location: G54 Rose Administration Building, limit 40 maximum reservations
Wifi computer access is available. Space is limited, so please contact Kathleen Nodine (348-5921) to make a reservation. Send her your CWID and home department.
Previous workshop video

UA students recognized at SAS Global Forum

  • April 12th, 2017
  • in News
UA students  were recognized at the recent SAS Global Forum 2017 conference in Orlando, Florida. Cameron Jagoe, a graduate student in the Culverhouse College of Commerce, Manderson Graduate School online Decision Analytics program, shared his success story, featuring The University of Alabama, SAS and US Bank during the opening session. Cameron is the first UA student to be recognized at the main opening session – his story can be found here. Cameron, together with three other students (Caroline Bell — MBA Business Analytics, Taylor Larkin — Interdisciplinary PhD Business Analytics, Huan Li — PhD Applied Statistics), received the SAS Global Ambassador award for demonstrating their innovative use of SAS software towards solving real-world problems in their research posters. Alexandra DeKinder, an undergraduate student (BS Math) received a student scholarship award to attend the conference. Caroline Bell and Alexander DeKinder are picture above with Dr. Jim Goodnight, the co-founder and Chief Executive officer of SAS.

McNair Scholars Visit the UA Campus

  • April 12th, 2017
  • in News
The Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program is a federal TRIO program funded at 151 institutions across the United States and Puerto Rico.  Each year in November, The University of Alabama invites McNair Scholars to visit our campus for a day to learn more about graduate programs.  Scholars interact with current graduate students, tour the campus and the facilities, and meet with faculty members in their prospective departments.  This year, students traveled from Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, and West Virginia to participate in the day’s activities.

Doctoral Student Receives Awards for Presentation

  • March 10th, 2017
  • in News
Jamileh Mohammadi, a doctoral student in the Department of Physics and the Center for Materials for Information Technology (MINT), won the best student presentation award at the November 2016 61st Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials in New Orleans. The Conference encompass all aspects of magnetism from fundamental physics and new materials to applied magnetics and device technologies. We are very proud of Ms. Mohammadi.

USAA Ranks UA as the #1 Destination for Veterans

  • March 10th, 2017
  • in News
From USAA.com: The University of Alabama is the top-ranked metro destination for veterans seeking higher education. The USAA report cites the highest graduation rate among the top 10 destinations and the highest percentage of Post-9/11 Yellow Ribbon recipients. In addition, The University of Alabama is named as one of the best colleges for veterans by U.S. News and World Report. Tuscaloosa is also affordable for students with rental prices well below the national average. Please follow this link for more details.

McNair Scholars Visit the UA Campus

  • March 10th, 2017
  • in News

The Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program is a federal TRIO program funded at 151 institutions across the United States and Puerto Rico.  Each year in November, The University of Alabama invites McNair Scholars to visit our campus for a day to learn more about graduate programs.  Scholars interact with current graduate students, tour the campus and the facilities, and meet with faculty members in their prospective departments.  This year, students traveled from Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, and West Virginia to participate in the day’s activities.

Workshop: Submitting a Thesis or Dissertation

  • March 10th, 2017
  • in News
Hands-on run through of the process to submit your thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School using the ProQuest portal.
If you need help with your thesis or dissertation submission, each of these workshops will take you through the following:
  • Show you the ProQuest submission portal
  • Assist you with establishing your unique submission account
  • Take you through set up and data input
  • Demonstrate how to create a PDF from your digital thesis or dissertation
  • Review publication options and agreements
  • Consider embargo options
  • Review of copyright and registration
  • Ordering bound copies
  • The process once you have submitted
At the end of the workshop you will:
  • Have an understanding of the submission process using the ProQuest portal
  • Understand some of the terminology and options for copyright, publication, and embargo
  • Know how to convert your original digital thesis or dissertation to PDF

Workshop schedule for 2017:
  • Friday, March 3rd                          09:00am – 10:30am
  • Wednesday, June 14th                   09:00am – 10:30am
  • Wednesday, September 20th         09:00am – 10:30am
Location: G54 Rose Administration Building, limit 40 maximum reservations
Wifi computer access is available. Space is limited, so please contact Kathleen Nodine (348-5921) to make a reservation. Send her your CWID and home department.
Previous workshop video

Mary Helen Deck – MBA

Mary Helen Deck enrolled in the Manderson MBA program in Fall 2015. She had looked for a business program that would welcome her non-traditional pathway and that would equip her for the work she was most interested in. Manderson filled both requirements for her. Mary Helen earned her Bachelors of Science (2013) at the University of Chicago where she studied sociology and political science. Her bachelor’s thesis was on why people volunteer in presidential campaigns. While a student at Chicago, Mary Helen worked as a docent in the Smart Museum of Art and interned with Teach for America as a summer intern helping to manage logistics, and then as a recruiter during the academic year. She also studied abroad, serving as an intern for a nonprofit organization in Cape Town, South Africa during the summer of 2007 and the following fall studied in Paris, France. Before entering graduate school, Mary Helen worked as a teacher at KIPP Delta Collegiate High School as a Teach For America Corps member. It was her experiences in Cape Town and with Teach For America that solidified Mary Helen’s commitment to helping communities build their own strengths to offer opportunity to all persons. The versatility of Manderson’s MBA Program and opportunities to engage with the community and campus were very important in her graduate school decision. Since arriving at The University of Alabama, Mary Helen has been engaged in several activities through the MBA Program. She is currently the Co-Captain of the MBA Case Team, is a graduate teaching assistant, and has volunteered with various organizations. Moreover, this summer she interned for CBRE and after graduation in May 2017, she will be working full time for CBRE in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rachel Thibodeau – Psychology

Rachel Thibodeau is a 4th year graduate student in the Department of Psychology working under the mentorship of Dr. Ansley Gilpin. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2013 at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Developmental Science and Cognitive Psychology with a minor in statistics at The University of Alabama (UA). Motivated by recent declines in academic performance, Rachel’s research interests focus on discovering mechanisms to facilitate emerging cognitive, emotional, and social skills in typically developing and at-risk children. Her Master’s thesis, featured in UA’s Three-Minute Thesis competition, tested the effects of a novel pretend-play intervention on children’s cognitive development. Rachel received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention for her Master’s thesis project. From this work, Rachel developed her dissertation research exploring how pretend-play can serve as a protective factor to minimize deficits in school readiness in an at-risk Head Start population. Rachel was recently awarded a competitive 2-year dissertation grant from the Administration for Children and Families to fund this research. Outside of her own research, Rachel has served as a graduate student research assistant on two externally funded studies where she has mentored over 150 undergraduate research assistants as they collected data from children and families throughout the community. Rachel has also recently established a Living Laboratory partnership with the McWane Science Center in Birmingham in order to further engage the community in her research. Through this partnership, Rachel has developed a new service learning psychology course for undergraduate students to learn about topics in child development through hands-on activities with children and parents at McWane. During her time at UA, Rachel has been the recipient of a Graduate Council Fellowship, Dean’s Merit Award, Graduate Council Research Fellowship, and an Outstanding Research by a Mater’s Student (Department of Psychology) award. She has 3 peer-reviewed publications and 14 presentations. Rachel has taught 3 courses at UA and currently serves as a representative for the Psychology Graduate Student Association. She is very grateful for the mentorship and guidance from the faculty in the Department of Psychology and for all the opportunities she has been given as a graduate student at The University of Alabama.