Newswise — Six students from The University of Alabama have been named to this year's USA Today All-USA College Academic Team " the most of any school in the nation.
The team includes First Team member, Cody Locke, who has the rare distinction of being named to the USA Today Academic Team for three consecutive years. The senior biology major from Boaz was named to the Second Team in both 2004 and 2005.
This year's team brings UA's total for the last four years to 20, a figure that also tops all other colleges and universities. UA had the most students on the list in 2005 with five and in 2003, also with five. In 2004, with four students on the team, UA came in second only to Harvard.
A total of 83 students nationwide were selected from more than 600 nominees for the 2006 team. Yale, Duke and Northwestern Universities each had three students on the team, the second highest total.
In addition to Locke, UA students named to the team were Matthew Fitzgerald, a senior mechanical engineering major from Bay Minette, who is on the Third Team, and Honorable Mentions Jennie "Katie" Boyd, a junior dance and communicative disorders major from Pelham; Vivian "Joan" Garrett, a senior journalism major from Pelham; Aundrea Lollar, a senior chemical and biological engineering major from Northport, and Taylor Nichols, a senior economics major from Northport.
Cody LockeLocke researches the molecular basis for epilepsy in the lab of Drs. Guy and Kim Caldwell. His research has been published in the top human disease journal, Human Molecular Genetics, and has been presented at national conferences. Locke has also used information from the human genome project to design a bioinformatics database that is included in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Molecular Biology Database.
Matthew FitzgeraldAs a research intern at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Fitzgerald researched advanced propulsion concepts, specifically plasma propulsion, and constructed a large-scale test platform for thrust diagnostics.
Jennie "Katie" BoydBoyd created a campaign challenging fifth graders to take five minutes to learn about the dangers of tobacco and focus on a healthy lifestyle. Her video promoting a tobacco-free lifestyle is the only educational video targeted to all fifth grade students in Alabama.
Vivian "Joan" GarrettGarrett created a Media Writing Center for tutoring freshmen and sophomores as they navigate through entry-level writing courses in the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences.
Aundrea LollarLollar researched mercury control in coal-fire utilities as a full-time employee of Southern Company while working on her engineering degree. Her work is being used across the country to make mercury control decisions that will impact industry and the environment.
Taylor NicholsNichols helped establish Voice of the Educated Student (VOTES), a student-led group dedicated to voter awareness, and created Alabama Collegiate Summit to provide a forum for a new generation of leaders to seek solutions to problems facing the state of Alabama.
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