FAYETTEVILLE -- Professor and poet Davis McCombs will be honored in October with the Porter Fund Literary Prize, an award given annually to an Arkansas writer.
McCombs, an associate professor of English, is director of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's Program in Creative Writing and Translation.
His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review and The Missouri Review, among other publications. He's written two books of poetry, Ultima Thule and Dismal Rock.
"My family and I have lived in the Arkansas Ozarks for almost 14 years now," McCombs said in a statement. "These old and mysterious hills have, not surprisingly, become a greater and greater presence in my poetry. Working with so many talented young writers, many of them native Arkansans, has also deepened my ties to this region."
McCombs wins a $2,000 prize. The award was founded in 1984 by two novelists, Jack Butler and Phil McMath, to honor former UA English professor Ben Kimpel, who had died a year earlier. The prize name refers to Kimpel's mother, Gladys Crane Kimpel Porter.
An award ceremony will be held Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. in Little Rock at the Main Library's Darragh Center. The event is open to the public.
Grant to aid use of sensor tech at sites
FAYETTEVILLE -- A $277,264 federal grant to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville will support the use of remote-sensing technology at archeological sites.
The National Science Foundation award supports a program created by UA's Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies and Archaeo-Imaging Laboratory. The center has had scholars visit high-profile archeological sites such as the historical city of Petra in the Middle East.
The most recent grant supports a program, the Spatial Archaeometry Research Collaborations program, also known as SPARC, that was started with the support of a $250,000 grant in 2013 from the National Science Foundation.
The program involves research projects that utilize 3-D measurement techniques and other geospatial analysis. The program has worked with the city of Boston to examine fingerprints on relics from the colonial era, among other projects.
"The capabilities of geospatial technologies to enhance the discovery and interpretation of these things not only offers new data, but creates entirely novel means of engaging with the archaeological record," Rachel Opitz, the program's executive director , said in a statement.
King Fahd Center's new director chosen
FAYETTEVILLE -- A geosciences professor has been chosen for the second time to lead the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Tom Paradise, who joined the UA faculty in 2000, is taking over for Joel Gordon, who remains a UA history professor.
Paradise had been associate director for the center, founded in the 1990s after the university received an $18 million gift from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz was king of Saudi Arabia from 1982 until his death in 2005.
"We are poised to become a unique Middle East Center and Program, which focuses on the interface of the environment, culture, religion, resources and politics," Paradise said in a statement.
Paradise previously served as interim director for the center from 2006 until 2009.
The center is a unit of UA's J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and hosts a Middle East Studies program for undergraduates while supporting various graduate study programs.
Grant supports fuel cell research at UA
FAYETTEVILLE -- A $411,948 federal grant from the National Science Foundation will support research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville into the development of new materials for use in fuel cells and other industries.
Paul Millett, a UA assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is collaborating with a professor at the University of Akron, Miko Cakmak, on a project to investigate how nanoparticles interact with other materials.
Silicon nanoparticles can split water molecules to release hydrogen, according to information released by UA explaining the research. Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells.
"We want to create porous materials that liquids or gases can flow through and react with these nanoparticles such that we can capitalize on their catalytic properties," Millett said in a statement.
Other properties allow for potential applications in biomedicine and filtration.
Supply chain center gets new executive
FAYETTEVILLE -- John Kent has been named director of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's Supply Chain Management Research Center.
He takes over from the previous director, Jim Crowell, who left the university in 2014 to join the faculty of Bellevue University in Nebraska. Kent joined UA in August last year as a clinical assistant professor and assistant chair in UA's Department of Supply Chain Management.
The center "connects our students to industry," Crowell said, describing how the center helps facilitate internships and networking opportunities. The center, founded in 1996 by faculty at UA's Sam M. Walton College of Business, lists 38 industry board members. Arkansas-based companies Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. are among companies on the board.
Transportation, including trucking, is a big piece of supply chain management, but Kent also noted the importance of information systems in a global commerce.
"Beyond that, it's the relationships that all those thousands of companies have with each other," Kent said.
Metro on 08/30/2015