@UB: November 2007
For the first time in our Division I history, the UB Bulls football team is striving to advance to post-season play. Reaching this point is a result of hard work, dedication and pride on the part of our football team, the Division of Athletics and fans. Your strong support is a key ingredient in this success, and rallying around the team contributes to part of the UB 2020 mission to build pride in our university.
I’d like to invite you to show your UB pride and join in the “Sea of Blue” at the game this Saturday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. in UB Stadium The Bulls will take on Bowling Green State University, continuing their journey for a playoff berth. Victories in the final two games of the season will make us bowl-eligible and in the running for our first Mid-American Conference championship.
The UB Alumni Association and the Division of Athletics are offering discounted tickets to alumni for $6 per ticket. Tickets are available now and on game day. Simply print this e-mail and redeem it at the ticket office to receive your discounted tickets.
I hope to see you in your UB colors in the stadium on Saturday!
GO BULLS!
Graham G. Stewart, Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations
UNIVERSITY NEWS
EARTHQUAKE PROTECTION: A new testing facility at UB and MCEER is the world’s first test apparatus specifically designed to subject costly equipment and mechanical systems in hospitals and other important structures to the precise floor vibrations that they experience during the strongest earthquakes.
Read more about the earthquake testing.
DELL PARTNERSHIP: A partnership with Dell Inc. that will standardize computer workstations for UB faculty, staff and students will also save the institution $2 million annually.
Learn more about this partnership.
NEW EOC: As part of its commitment to invest in a more vibrant presence in downtown Buffalo, UB plans to build a new, expanded home for its Educational Opportunity Center adjacent to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The EOC provides educational job training, college preparation and related support services to economically disenfranchised and academically disadvantaged populations in Western New York.
Read more about the EOC.
THE EYES HAVE IT: The new home of the Ira G. Ross Eye Institute – a collaboration of the Department of Ophthalmology in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the Elizabeth Pierce Olmsted, MD, Center for the Visually Impaired and University Ophthalmology Services – opened Nov. 1.
Learn more about the Ira G. Ross Eye Institue.
UB PEOPLE
NANOTECH EXPERT: A $750,000 grant from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) has enabled UB to hire Gottfried Strasser, PhD, an internationally known scientist in nanotechnology. Strasser will use the NYSTAR award to establish an advanced technological foundry at UB, a critical component for highly competitive nanotechnology research programs.
Read more about Strasser and NYSTAR.
THE WINNERS: An all-woman student team from School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has won the National Community Pharmacists Association Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition.
Learn more about these students.
HOPKINS HONORED: L. Nelson Hopkins, M.D., chair of the department of neurosurgery in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and director of the Toshiba Stroke Research Center, has received the third annual Leaders in Endovascular Education (LIVE) award from Cordis Endovascular and Cordis Neurovascular, Inc.
Read more about L. Nelson Hopkins, MD.
JOSE ELECTED FELLOW: Jorge V. Jose, PhD, vice president for research, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.
Learn more about Jorge V. Jose, PhD.
BREAKING RESEARCH
KILLER CLAY: UB geologists have modified and patented Bioclay, a form of clay that is highly successful in destroying a range of bacterial agents and soon will be tested against MRSA.
Learn more about Bioclay.
TEEN SUBSTANCE USE: While most parents are aware of and accurately evaluate the extent of their teenager’s substance, parents are less likely to know of use by younger teens and of their children’s use if they themselves have personal problems or using alcohol more frequently, according to study out of UB’s Research Institute on Addictions.
Read more about parent knowledge of substance in teens.
PHANTOM SOUNDS: UB scientists have received a $2.9 million five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the brain signals responsible for creating the phantom sounds associated with tinnitus and to test potential therapies to quiet the noise.
Read more about this study.
HEARD ON CAMPUS
“I think today the biggest threat to human rights and the rule of law is fear. Fear of being swamped by immigrants, fear of the ‘other,’ fear of being blown up by terrorists, fear of rogue states, fear of weapons of mass destruction. Fear is the antithesis of empathy. It destroys our shared understanding and our shared humanity because it converts the other into a threat. For most people, fear severely restricts the ability to reason, to challenge. Playing on people’s fears allows political leaders to consolidate their own power, create false certainties and escape accountability.”
--Irene Zubaida Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, in her presentation Oct. 25 as part of the Mitchell Lecture Series in the UB Law School.
IN MY OPINION
UB is increasing its investment in downtown Buffalo, with the NYS Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences firmly in place, the recent purchase of two buildings on the edge of the medical campus, and development and support services staff slated to relocate to the Jacobs Educational Development Center in early 2008. These strategies are part of UB’s plans to grow by 40 percent by 2020. Please give us your impressions of the university’s renewed commitment to downtown.
Read comments from last month’s question about the emerging UB Bulls football team.
HOT LINKS
Attend Building UB, Growing Community, a forum on Dec. 4 to discuss UB's Comprehensive Physical Plan.
ZODIAQUE Studio Dance Ensemble to perform Nov. 29-Dec. 2 in the Center for the Arts Black Box Theatre.
Female volunteers in Western New York and Utah are needed for a UB study on the effects of aspirin in gestation and reproduction. For more information about The EAGeR Study, call (716) 829-2975, Ext. 660 or read the study brochure.
Ski or snowboard? Alumni may join Schussmeisters Ski Club for only $284.
Cruise the Caribbean with the UB Alumni Association.
Send a UB e-postcard.
Have you checked out the MySpace and Facebook groups for UB alumni?
