Not from Huntsville, but I live in Birmingham and my wife's parents and sister live up there so we go frequently. If Research Park is where I think it is you may want to look across the county line in Madison. Its a growing area with a lot of new development and is probablly an easy commuting distance.
EDIT: If you put the zip (35806?) into an apartment search you get several Madison locations with in only a few miles. Avoid Sparkman and Univesity, only because those are likely to be older and run down from being used by UAH students. Remember that Huntsville is not a big place and has a fairly good highway system. The crime rate is much lower than its size would indicate and is listed as one of the greenest cities in the US (and the only on in the Southeast to make that list) Lily Flagg Station is nice and would only be about 9 miles away from the Research Park area. Generally speaking Huntsville is a nice place to live with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and over all highly educated, even if there are cotton fields within the city limits.
