November 10, 1994: Vol26n10: FACULTY & STAFF BILLBOARD

Nov. 16 conference
will focus on 
energy-efficient office 
Energy efficiency in the office will be the subject of a conference
co-sponsored by UB and Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., to be held from
7:45 a.m.-noon Nov. 16, in the Center for Tomorrow.
	The free conference will explore ways that companies and other
organizations with large numbers of computers -- as well as
telecommuters with home offices -- can help reduce consumption of
energy and operating costs, while boosting productivity.
	"Office equipment is already the nation's fastest growing
commercial energy-user," said Walter Simpson, UB's energy officer and
a conference coordinator. "Simple changes in computer-operating
behavior and purchasing practices can result in significant energy
savings," he said. Among the speakers: Dennis Elsenbeck, manager of
marketing & sales for Niagara Mohawk: How local utility companies can
help companies maximize energy efficiency and productivity; Cyane
Dandrige, computer expert and program designer, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency: Energy Star computers and other efficient additions
to modern offices; Bruce Nordman, senior research associate, Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif.: Ways to reduce paper use, and
effects of paper use on office productivity and efficiency.
Investigator of Jupiter
comet to speak
The crash of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet on Jupiter last summer will be
the subject of the 1994 John W. Cowper Distinguished Visiting Lecture
Series on the North Campus Nov. 15 and 16.
	Heidi B. Hammel, the astronomer who led the Hubble Space
Telescope team that investigated Jupiter's atmospheric response to the
collisions, will give two lectures, one geared to a popular audience
and one for a technical audience. Hammel became familiar to national
television audiences as she explained the comet crash in July.
	She will show and explain the spectacular images of the
comet's impacts taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. They include the
fiery plumes the telescope detected, some of which reached heights of
4,000 kilometers.
The popular lecture will be held at 8 p.m. Nov. 15, in Room 225,
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (FNSM) Complex.
	The technical lecture will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 16, in Room
201, Student Union. The lectures are free and open to the public.
	Hammel, a principal research scientist at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, received her undergraduate degree from MIT,
earned her doctorate at the University of Hawaii in Manoa and
completed a postdoctoral position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena. 
Entrepreneurial alumni 
award scholarship
Michele Miller, president of Western New York Family, Inc., is the
first recipient of the Taylor Kew Scholarship, presented by the UB
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership's (CEL) Alumni Association.
	The $500 scholarship was designed to benefit an entrepreneur
enrolled in the CEL's core program that assists entrepreneurs
operating medium-sized companies. Miller is a 1993 graduate of the UB
Entrepreneurial Development Program and is enrolled in CEL's core
program for 1994-95.
	The scholarship was established in memory of C. Taylor Kew,
who was a volunteer instructor for CEL's core program.
	Miller's publication, Western New York Family Magazine, has
grown from an eight-page newsletter produced on her kitchen table into
a respected community resource. The magazine, now a monthly newsprint
publication of 32-56 pages, focuses on needs and interests of parents
with children ranging in age from newborn to 12. Distributed in Erie
and Niagara counties, it has a readership of 70,000.
Great Lakes 'invaders'
topic of seminar
Zebra mussels and other unwanted guests in the lower Great Lakes will
be discussed in a day-long seminar Saturday, Nov. 12, in 104 Knox
Hall, North Campus. The conference is geared toward environmentalists,
concerned citizens, anglers, boaters and students.
	In addition to the zebra mussel, other so-called
non-indigenous aquatic species, such as ruffe and "B.C." -- the spiny
water flea -- will be discussed.
	Sponsored by the UB Great Lakes Program and the New York Sea
Grant Program, the seminar will feature lectures on the history of
non-indigenous species introductions, the ecology and population
dynamics of B.C. and ruffe in the Great Lakes, the ruffe monitoring
program and ecological impacts of zebra mussels in Lakes Erie and
Ontario.
	The seminar also will discuss efforts to mitigate the impacts
that these non-native species have had on the ecosystem, as well as
efforts to slow the spread of these aquatic invaders.
	Speakers are from Cornell University, Buffalo State College,
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and
New York Sea Grant.
McConnell named
chair of Geography
James E. McConnell, professor of geography and director of the
Canada-U.S. Trade Center at UB, has been named chair of the
university's Department of Geography for a three-year term. A member
of the department since 1968, he served as chair from 1983-88.
	He will continue to direct the Canada-U.S. Trade Center, which
has conducted research on the economies of North America and has
provided trade-related assistance to small manufacturing
establishments within the Niagara region. He has served as director
since the center's inception in 1988.
	McConnell received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence
in Teaching in 1976. 
	A graduate of Slippery Rock State College, he earned a
master's degree from Miami University of Ohio and a doctorate at Ohio
State University.
TCIE helps company
obtain state grant
Exolon-Esk Co. has obtained a state Regional Economic Development
Partnership Program Training Grant to implement employee-training
programs with the assistance of the Center for Industrial
Effectiveness (TCIE) at UB. Exolon-Esk, a manufacturer and distributor
of aluminum oxide, boron carbide and silicon-carbide abrasive,
metallurgical and refractory products, will receive $53,365 under the
grant.
	TCIE conducted a training-needs assessment and created a
long-range training plan for the company, which will implement these
recommendations with the grant funds. The center will continue as the
program's administrator, providing quality manages.
	"TCIE has made available to us the type of consultants who
will help improve our competitiveness on a worldwide scale, " said
Robert Taylor, director of operations at Exolon-Esk.
Media Study stars in November series
For the first time in many years, a retrospective of works of
representative faculty, student and alumni of its Department of Media
Study and the former Center for Media Study -- many of them legends in
film and video art -- is being held at UB.
	The exhibition, "Explorations of the New Media Technologies:
Film, Video, Digital, Center for Media Study, University at Buffalo,
1970-1985," will premiere Friday through Sunday in the screening room
(Room 112) in the Center for the Arts. It will travel to Europe next
year and then to U.S. museums.
	The works are by Hollis Frampton, Tony Conrad, Paul Sharits,
Steina and Woody Vasulka, Peter Weibel, and James Blue whose
contributions to film video and digital media technologies helped to
revolutionize the visual arts in the U.S.
	All events are open to the public. Admission is $3.50 per day,
$7 for the entire weekend. To obtain tickets, call 645-ARTS.
	The program begins with "Zorns Lemma," a film exploration of
the alphabet in relation to iconic forms by the late Hollis Frampton,
pioneering filmmaker, on the UB faculty from 1973 until his death in
1984. 
	It ends with "Greetings from Out Here," a popular 1993 video
by UB alumna Ellen Spiro. It was presented at the 1994 Margaret Mead
Film and Video Festival sponsored by New York's American Museum of
Natural History.
	The series includes Tony Conrad's "The Flicker," famous 1966
minimalist film described as a "mathematical and rhythmical
orchestration of black and white frames" and former faculty member
James Blue's "The Invisible City" (1978), a film of his invented,
citywide participation in the construction of what was once called
"the documentary," plus "Summer Salt" (1982) by Steina Vasulka and
"The Art of Memory" by Woody Vasulka. 	The Vasulkas both taught at
UB, and a retrospective of their work opens at the Museum of Modern
Art in San Francisco in January.
	Nine shorts produced between 1975 and 1993 by UB media study
graduate Vibeke Sorenson will be shown. A double projection of the
late Paul Sharits' eerie double film, "Razor Blades" (1965-68), will
be presented. A filmmaker and video artist on the UB Media Study
faculty from 1973-1992, he received more than 100 awards and grants
and had exhibitions at leading museums, galleries and universities.