February 27, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) psychologist Karlene Ball, Ph.D., has won the 2008 Carolyn P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction. A dinner and lecture will be held at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, May 1, at the Alys Stephens Center, Upper Lobby, 1200 10th Ave. S. Cocktails will be served at 6 p.m. in the Stephens Center downstairs lobby. Tickets are $20 each. For more details, or to RSVP, e-mail the University Events Office at uabevents@uab.edu.

UAB presents the award annually to a full-time faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences for their professional and academic achievements and contributions to the university and local community. The prize, made possible by the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Endowment for Scholarly Distinction, comes with a $5,000 cash award.

Ball is an internationally renowned experimental psychologist who studies cognitive impairment and aging. She directs the UAB Center for Research in Applied Gerontology and she is associate director of the UAB Center for Aging in the School of Medicine. For more than 20 years, she has studied the visual and cognitive correlates of mobility problems of older adults, with an emphasis on driving skills. Her research focuses primarily on the development and testing of assessment measures and rehabilitation programs for older drivers.

Her research has resulted in the development and continued investigation of a test called Useful Field of View (UFOV)® which measures visual attention and identifies older drivers at risk for having traffic accidents. She also was a co-author of a multi-site study, supported by the National Institute on Aging, which found that older adults benefit from training to improve reasoning, memory and speed of processing. The study was published in 2006 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.