Accolades for Aug. 29, 2011

August 29th, 2011 - Filed under: Accolades

APR Professor Recognized for Post-Tornado Volunteer Service

Dr. J. Suzanne Horsley
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Dr. J. Suzanne Horsley, assistant professor of advertising and public relations, has been awarded a SuPRStar Award for Excellence in Community Service from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication for volunteer work with the American Red Cross after the April 27 tornado.

“The Chinese character for crisis is a mix of danger and opportunity,” said Horsley, a national public affairs volunteer for the Red Cross. “This crisis in Tuscaloosa – yes, it was a  danger. But look at the opportunities to come together as a community, get students involved in helping and conduct research that can help mitigate disasters in the future. That’s very rare, and I didn’t want to miss out on my opportunity to use my skills and background to help Tuscaloosa.”

Following the tornado, Horsley sprang to action almost immediately, participating in more than 50 national, international, regional and local interviews and coaching Red Cross leadership and workers to prepare them for interviews. She also assisted with distribution of public information throughout the state and helped emergency management agencies and the Tuscaloosa mayor’s office develop and implement communication strategy.

Horsley recruited and involved her students in her work as well, implementing a six-student public affairs team that provided the students with invaluable real-world experience. She and the students created a Red Cross community page and blog for the local chapter, generated online content, helped provide media triage at the disaster relief shelter, wrote news releases, and shot and edited video.

Horsley was nominated by Dr. Joe Phelps, APR department chair, who described her as a “tireless worker” and said, “Her efforts make me proud to be her colleague and thankful that she is a part of our community.”

UA Book Arts Instructor Wins Award

Sarah Bryant
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The Minnesota Center for Book Arts presented Sarah Bryant, a new book arts instructor in the School of Library and Information Studies, with the MCBA Prize, the first honor to recognize book art from across the field and around the world.

Bryant’s entry, ”Biography,” was selected for the award from a pool of 147 submissions that represented 22 nations and all seven continents.

In her artist’s statement, Bryant said “Biography” is “an examination of the chemical elements in the human body and the roles they play elsewhere in the world. This book grew out of my desire to use the periodic table, our visual method of categorizing every particle of matter in the universe, as a tool for creating a portrait of a human being, the viewer of the book.”

Bryant received an MFA in book arts from UA in 2008. Since then, she has taught book arts for the University of Georgia in Cortona, Italy, and she served as the Victor Hammer Fellow for Wells College in New York State. Her books have been collected by major libraries including Cornell University, The New York Public Library, Harvard University and Stanford University, among others.

In 2009, she spent a month in Ireland for a residency at a printmaking studio in Donegal. “It was a strikingly beautiful and isolating area,” Bryant said. “Four miles to the nearest village on a bike, light until 11 p.m., a crazy mountain in the background, bog in the foreground and no one else around.”

“Honestly, none of what I have accomplished since studying at UA would have been possible without the education I received there,”she said. “The University of Alabama MFA in the book arts program transformed me from someone with a dormant interest in books and book arts into a skilled and active participant in that professional world.”

Engineering Professors Named Fellow by American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Two mechanical engineering professors have been elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Dr. Yuebin Guo, professor of mechanical engineering, and Dr. Beth Todd, associate professor of mechanical engineering, recently received this prestigious distinction.

The election to the grade of fellow is the highest honor awarded to ASME members. According to ASME, a fellow is one who has attained a membership grade of distinction, at the time of advancement shall have been responsible for significant engineering achievements and shall have not less than 10 years of active practice.

Founded in 1880, ASME promotes the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe.

Dr. Yuebin Guo
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Dr. Yuebin Guo

Since he joined UA in 2001, Guo has been involved in several research projects including multiscale manufacturing processes, surface integrity and functionality, process mechanics and simulations, medical devices, and clean energy components. He has served as the principal investigator of more than 20 projects funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Transportation and numerous industry sectors. Guo has published more than 200 peer-refereed journal and conference papers and given more than 100 presentations and invited seminars.

In addition to teaching and research, Guo is involved in numerous professional activities and organizations. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Materials Research Society, the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education. In 2004, he received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and in 2003, he was named the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award winner from the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Guo received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Shandong Institute of Technology in Shandong, China. He continued his education at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, where he received his master’s degree in precision instruments. He earned a master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate from Purdue University.

Dr. Beth Todd

Todd began working at the University in 1992 as an assistant professor of engineering mechanics. She moved to mechanical engineering in 1996 and was promoted to associate professor in 2001. Her research has focused on orthopedic biomechanics and design of devices for the disabled. More recently, she has transitioned to the study of engineering education. Todd has been principal investigator of a dozen research projects funded by the Engineering Foundation, NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Halliburton Foundation. She has more than 50 refereed publications with one or more student co-authors.

Dr. Beth Todd
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Todd has served as mechanical engineering undergraduate program coordinator since 1998 and as faculty adviser for UA’s student sections of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers. She has been named the national outstanding section faculty adviser for both ASME and SWE. In addition, Todd was named a SWE Fellow in 2004, and served as the SWE National Conference co-chair in 2003. She currently chairs the Student Sections Committee for ASME, a global committee working on student policies and practices. She is also a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and she has served as the past chair of the American Society of Engineering Education Southeast Section.

In 1981, Todd received her bachelor’s degree in engineering science from Pennsylvania State University. She went on to receive her master’s degree in applied mechanics and doctoral degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia in 1986 and 1992, respectively.

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