Research News Archive

  • Dr. Khaldoon Nusair, the new department head for Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of South Alabama, said the future of South's program includes specializations in the major. Here, Nusair stands in the middle of downtown Mobile's entertainment district – a popular draw for both locals and tourists with restaurants, music and event venues, and lodging.
    Dr. Khaldoon Nusair, an internationally recognized marketing scholar, looks to niche opportunities in the market as the new chair of Hospitality and Tourism Management. ...
  • graphic that shows vaccine bottles
    South researchers will study links between social media and vaccine misinformation in African American communities. ...
  • Lynne Chronister, vice president of research and economic development at the University of South Alabama
    The Council on Research for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities named Lynne Chronister as its chair. ...
  • Sunset, glass artwork by Matthew Patterson from his Catalysts series
    A new research program at South will select students from diverse academic disciplines for community and environmental projects. ...
  • University of South Alabama students, from left, Shubhangi Singh, Nicholas Flynn and Destinie Diggs recently presented their research at the 24th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Singh won the Best Poster Award from the Phi Kappa Phi honor society.
    At the 24th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, South students shared their projects on everything from hermit crabs to Big Data and pulmonary hypertension. ...
  • Emilie Berge in her lab at South, has received one of just 12 Zymo Research Impact Initiative grants awarded annually for scientific innovation and potential social impact. Berge received her master's degree in environmental toxicology in May will use the $4000 award to perform transcriptomic analysis of the polyaromatic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria she described in her thesis.
    Former South student and track star awarded Zymo Research Impact Initiative grant for her work in environmental toxicology. ...
  • The University of South Alabama launched SOAR, short for Strengthening Opportunities for Achievement and Resilience, at the MacQueen Alumni Center July 27, 2022. South is collaborating with the Mobile Public Schools and Mobile Police Department on this 5-year intervention study. Causey, Hankins, Pillans and Washington middle schools are taking part and at the launch, the principals of each middle school chose a balloon that revealed which year their school would receive the intervention.
    University researchers will collaborate with the Mobile Police Department and Mobile County Public Schools on a five-year, $3.5 million project focused on reducing death, injury and incarceration. ...
  • Future of the Field in Research
    Dr. Matthew Reichert and Heather Wainwright earn global honors by the Society of Research Administrators International. ...
  • A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 14, 2022 carrying the JagSat-1 satellite. NASA photo.
    South engineering students and faculty cheer the Florida launch of a SpaceX rocket carrying their JagSat-1 satellite that will transmit data back to Shelby Hall. “We’re in orbit!” ...
  • Professor of marine sciences Dr. John Lehrter, on a vessel off the Alabama coast in 2021, is leading a study to arrive at a baseline for water quality along the Alabama Gulf Coast. “At a really fundamental level, this project is about going out, very frequently, and trying to get the pulse of state water quality. Where are the places we have to worry about, and what are the places that have good quality?”
    Dr. John Lehrter and the University of South Alabama School of Marine and Environmental Sciences will lead the three-year study of water and sediment quality along Alabama' s Gulf Coast. ...
  • Captain Brett Falterman of Fish Research Support displays a conventionally-tagged greater amberjack before releasing the fish off the coast of Louisiana. Photo insert: Each of the small, colorful conventional tags will display a unique five-digit number and a telephone number to call to claim a $250 reward. (Photos courtesy of Dr. Michael Dance, Louisiana State University and Dr. Marcus Drymon, Mississippi State University.)
    USA professor is leading a federally funded project that could have significant implications for commercial and recreational fishing. ...
  • Dr. Michael DiPasquale, an assistant professor of mathematics and statistics at South, has a received a $197,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
    Dr. Michael DiPasquale, an assistant professor of mathematics and statistics, received a $197,000 grant to support research in computational commutative algebra and algebraic geometry. ...
  • vaccine graphic with a man and a needle
    South psychologist Dr. Ryon McDermott leads a national study of the relationship between traditional men's roles and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines. ...
  • Dr. James Davis, left, professor of chemistry and Dr. Kevin West, professor of chemical engineering, have partnered with Norton Engineering Consultants to take their technology of reducing carbon emissions into the industrial marketplace. While hurdles remain, this technology is promising and could have long-term effects for South and the global environment.
    Dr. Jim Davis and Dr. Kevin West are leading a research team that is developing carbon capture technology using ionic liquids. ...
  • Emily Warner, left, with the USA Center for Archaeological Studies, and Thomas Grace, with Wiregrass Archaeological Consulting, bisect a feature in the soil at a dig site that is along the route for a proposed Mobile Bay bridge. After completing the excavation of half the feature, they will photograph and draw the profile, and then excavate the second half.
    The USA Center for Archaeological Studies unearths the past to make way for a bridge linking Alabama's two coastal counties. Its archaeologists and anthropologists are joined by South researchers, academics and students from a cross section of d ...
  • Dr. Sean Powers, right, professor and director of the School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, walks the halls of the school's renovated 20,000-square-foot campus facility at its dedication last year.
    The two new undergraduate degrees in the School of Marine and Environmental Sciences complement the school's existing programs in research and graduate education. ...
  • An artist rendering of the planned expansion and renovation of the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.
    The appropriation from U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby will help fund construction, which will include a new addition and an extensive renovation of the 1974 existing structure. ...
  • University of South Alabama mechanical engineering seniors, from left, Madison Bomeke, Hayden Jenkins, Bryson Hatcher, Will Sergeant, Gavin Brown and Evan Moulds work on a 82-inch-long wing that will provide stability for their remote-control cargo plane in the Design, Build, Fly competition.
    South mechanical engineering students look forward to flying, landing and unloading a remote-controlled plane they designed and built for an international competition in Kansas. ...
  • Dr. Kenneth Hudson, associate professor of sociology and social work at the University of South Alabama, urges students to challenge conventional wisdom using data. “I spend a lot of time looking at numbers, what I call the view from 33,000 feet. ... And there are certain kinds of questions where you have to land the plane, get out and walk around and talk to people.”
    Dr. Kenneth Hudson, an associate professor of sociology and social work at South, studies the dual labor market, income inequality and their implications for society. ...
  • University of South Alabama doctoral student Kim Pusey says her work in areas of social justice has been fueled by her own upbringing and observations of race and the criminal justice system. “Part of my work, part of the research I do, is in service of trying to make things better for little black and brown kids,” she said.
    Kim Pusey chose South for graduate school because of an opportunity to work with at-risk youths. She now plans for it to be her career. ...
  • Former Congressman Jo Bonner, seen here walking into the Administration Building, brings political experience and a personal touch to his role as the fourth president of the University of South Alabama.
    The former congressman brings political experience and a personal touch to his role as the fourth president of the University of South Alabama. ...
  • Dr. Michael Chambers, USA associate vice president of research, has been named to the Alabama Innovation Commission board. The Commission was created in 2020 to develop forward-thinking policy recommendations and ideas to create a more robust, inclusive economy that supports entrepreneurship, innovation and technology.
    The Commission's goal is to develop forward-thinking policy recommendations and ideas to create a more robust, inclusive economy. ...
  • Dr. Christine Ruey Shan Lee traces a figure-eight knot with light outside the Mathematical Sciences and Physics Building at the University of South Alabama. Her research in quantum topology earned a grant from the National Science Foundation.
    Dr. Christine Ruey Shan Lee is using a grant from the National Science Foundation to continue her research in knot theory. She also works with middle school students in the Girls Who Code organization. ...
  • Dr. Jason Strickland, an assistant professor of biology at the University of South Alabama, and senior India Hughes helped identify two new snake species — the Tricolor Snailsucker and the Poppyfield Snailsucker — by sequencing snake DNA.
    A South researcher and his undergraduate research assistant, along with a team of researchers in Mexico, identify two unique snail-sucking species. ...
  • Statue of Aristotle.
    Fellowships from Harvard University Press and the Institute for Advanced Study help Dr. Samuel Baker spend a sabbatical writing a book about truth in the ethics of Aristotle. ...