UAB Briefs: 'Space archaeologist' Sarah Parcak puts TED Prize to work
Welcome to another installment of UAB Briefs, in which we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email Iron City Ink at sydney@starnespublishing.com or jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
Global initiative from UAB’s ‘space archaeologist’
Sarah Parcak, associate professor of anthropology at UAB, is an academic superstar.
Dubbed a space archaeologist, Parcak first received worldwide attention in 2011, after she and her team – using satellite imaging – discovered numerous lost pyramids, tombs and ancient settlements at a location in Egypt.
Parcak has since continued similar explorations and been featured by such media outlets as The New York Times, the BBC, CNN, Science, Nature and National Geographic.
In 2013, she was named a senior fellow by the non-profit group TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), which hosts presentations by innovators and thought leaders around the world.
And in 2016, she was named the winner of the prestigious $1 million TED Prize, which is granted each year to one exceptional individual, offering them the resources to create a world-changing project.
In New York on Monday at the TED headquarters, Parcak launched her project – GlobalXplorer: a citizen science and archaeology platform that’s enlisting people around the world to discover sites unknown to modern archaeologists.
To watch her announcement in a TED Talk, click here.
Parcak said in a news release that she do give anyone with an Internet connection the opportunity “discover and protect the millions of unknown archaeological sites across the globe.”
After signing in and taking a tutorial, users begin examining satellite images. Eventually, users have the opportunity to join archaeologists virtually for on-the-ground digs.
“The world’s hidden heritage contains clues to humankind’s collective resilience and creativity,” Parcak said in the release. “It’s up to all of us to protect this heritage, and with GlobalXplorer we are empowering a 21st-century army of global explorers to discover and protect our shared history.”
GlobalXplorer was built in collaboration with the TED Prize, National Geographic, satellite imagery and analytics firm DigitalGlobe and platform developer Mondo Robot.
GlobalXplorer is launching in Peru, where the group Sustainable Preservation Initiative will serve as the on-the-ground partner.
“As soon as they see new or destroyed sites from the sky, we will be there on the ground to investigate and protect them,” said SPI executive director Dr. Larry Coben. “We will also empower and train the communities around those sites so that they can benefit economically from their heritage without looting and destroying it.”
A trendy grant
Faculty at the UAB Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering are working on ways to ease traffic congestion, thanks to a $14 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
UAB is part of a consortium of 10 Southeastern universities named by the Department of Transportation in December as the Region 4 University Transportation Center.
The consortium – called the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education (STRIDE) Center – will spend the $14 million over the next five years to develop novel strategies for reducing traffic congestion.
The UAB Transportation Engineering and Development Lab, or TRENDLab, will take part in the STRIDE study.
STRIDE will focus specifically on the use of new technologies available in vehicles, telecommunications capabilities and shared autonomy in transportation to attack congestion.
The management of congestion “a core area of expertise” at the TRENDLab, according to Virginia Sisiopiku, an associate professor of transportation engineering at UAB.
A special pulmonology program
UAB has created a multidisciplinary program in interventional pulmonology – the only program of its type in Alabama and one of only about 25 in the United States – according to a UAB news release.
A relatively new concept in pulmonary medicine, interventional pulmonology uses endoscopy and other methods to diagnose and treat lung and chest diseases – particularly lung cancer.
“The program provides a complete approach to treating a variety of lung and pleural diseases, including cancer and central airway obstruction,” said Dr. Hitesh Batra, the director of the program and an assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine with the UAB School of Medicine.
The program is designed to rapidly see patients who are referred to UAB, make or confirm a diagnosis and commence treatment in a short time frame.
The program offers access to UAB’s other medical disciplines, including radiology, pathology, thoracic surgery and radiation oncology.