• UAB is one of only two academic institutions available nationwide receiving requests for Crew Robotics and Vehicle Equipment (CRAVE) for NASA’s International Space Station, space shuttles, and beyond. Lee Moradi, CRAVE program manager in the Center for Biophysical Science and Engineering, says UAB will design, test, and manufacture high-precision research instruments and thermal carriers, he also foresees additional work to develop extravehicular activity and robotics equipment, crew health and conditioning systems, and environmental control and life-support technology.
Challenging, Distinctive
Academic Programs
• UAB offers one-of-a-kind programs, such as the only undergraduate biomedical engineering degree, the only industrial distribution degree in the Southeast, and one of only four forensic accounting and IT concentrations in the nation. • UAB also offers unrivaled research and scholarship opportunities for students at all levels, ranking 1st among all public universities in federal research funding per incoming freshman. Of the 138 undergraduates enrolled in the Science and Technology Honors Program (part of the acclaimed UAB Honors Academy) in 2010-11, 35 were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. • In the U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate programs, UAB has 13 programs in the top 25 and five in the top 10: Master’s in health administration, 5th; School of Medicine’s AIDS program, 6th; Medicine’s primary care, 10th; nurse practitioner (adult), 10th; nursing service administration, 10th. • The Scientist ranked UAB 22nd nationally (and 6th among public universities) in its “Best Places to Work as a Postdoctoral Fellow” issue. • UAB’s Alys Stephens Center is celebrating its 15th anniversary as Birmingham’s “home for the performing arts,” housing a 1,330-seat concert hall, intimate recital hall and state-of-the-art theatres. With 24 Steinway pianos in its music department, UAB is Alabama’s first “AllSteinway School” and one of only 125 in the world. • The School of Nursing is designated as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for International Nursing, one of only 10 such centers in the U.S. and 45 in the world.
Athletic Achievements
• Former UAB men’s golfer Graeme McDowell (right) won the U.S. Open in 2010. At UAB, he was the nation’s no. 1-ranked collegiate golfer in 2002. • In 33 seasons of competition, the Blazer men’s basketball team has enjoyed 29 winning seasons, has made 25 trips to postseason tournaments (14 ncAA, 11 NIT), and has won eight conference championships. With the 2011 NCAA berth, the Blazers have reached postseason play in eight of the past nine years (4 NCAA, 4 NIT). UAB advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2004, knocking off tournament No. 1 seed Kentucky in the second round.
• Just in the past three years, UAB students earned 8 Goldwater Scholarships, 7 Fulbright scholarships, 3 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowships and an NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholarship (one of only 15 in the nation).
• The men’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA Championships for the fifth time overall in 2006. The team won the 1999 C-USA Championship and advanced to the ncAA Final 8. • The UAB women’s soccer team has won the C-USA Tournament title twice (2004 and 2006), earning ncAA trips both years. In 2003, the UAB women captured the C-USA regular season title.
• The UAB softball team made its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2010 and made a return trip in 2011. The Blazers defeated Florida State in the first round of the 2011 Athens Regional for their first ever NCAA tourney win.
• The Blazers field 18 intercollegiate teams as a Division I member of the NCAA and a founding member of Conference USA.
• The Blazer volleyball team has made two NCAA tournament appearances in the past five years (2006 and 2008). The program earned its first NCAA tournament victory in 2008 with a first-round win over Missouri State.
• Vonetta Flowers, a former UAB track & field AllAmerican, made history in February of 2002 when she won a Gold Medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Flowers became the first Winter Olympics Gold Medalist ever from Alabama when she teamed with Jill Bakken to capture the two-woman bobsled competition.
• Blazer football earned its first postseason bowl appearance with a berth in the 2004 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. The Blazers have finished as Conference USA runner-up three times since they became a football-playing member of the league.
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