Latest News

You’ve probably heard of the “triple bottom line” approach to sustainability. But do you really know what it is? The Professional Staff Senate is inviting members of the UB community to find out at this year’s Sustainable Living Fair.

Algae may be found in oceans and lakes, but some scientists are hoping that the next place you’ll see these organisms is a coal-fired power plant. That’s because algae, which mostly reside in aquatic habitats, consume carbon dioxide to conduct photosynthesis. If the organisms grow in dense enough concentrations in a controlled setting, they could conceivably be used to capture carbon dioxide from power plants that burn coal or natural gas.

Sifting through the clothing rack, Rosie Mollica spotted a garment that caught her eye. “Look at this skirt!” she blurted out, showing it to her father, Peter.

To measure air pollution across the United States and other large areas, scientists rely on a patchwork of satellites.

The girls are laughing, smiling, jockeying for position along a line of masking tape on the floor, gently bumping up against the three teachers in their classroom at Enterprise Charter School in downtown Buffalo.

Faculty, staff and administrators from UB’s three campuses were among thousands of volunteers fanning out across the Buffalo area Wednesday to lend a hand to local not-for-profit organizations for the 27th annual Day of Caring.

The large panels of bright colors fill the most visible crosswalk on the North Campus — on Putnam Way between the Student Union and UB Commons — a bold, visual symbol of UB’s pride and support for the LGBTQ community.

Standing at the front of a packed lecture hall, three UB students wear colorful hair clips, pins and bags that were hand-sewn and embroidered by refugee women at the nonprofit Stitch Buffalo.

As part of a multi-year initiative in Madrid, UB faculty member Joyce Hwang has joined an international group of designers to explore how design can create a new discourse on climate change in the context of public space.

Engineers have designed a new system that can help cool buildings in crowded metropolitan areas without consuming electricity, an important innovation at a time when cities are working to adapt to climate change.

According to CDP, an international nonprofit, approximately 200 of the world’s largest companies collectively peg their climate change exposure at nearly $1 trillion. Manufacturers around the globe cite changing weather patterns and rising seas and rivers as increasingly disruptive to their supply chain. 

To get fresh produce many people immediately think about going to the grocery store around the corner. But what do people do if they don't have that access to fresh fruits and veggies?

When a heatwave is a forecast, the standard advice is to drink plenty of water, take frequent breaks and wear sunscreen. But for extreme heat events, those steps may not be enough. Over 30 percent of all weather-related deaths in the United States are attributable to high outdoor temperatures, heat stroke or sunstroke. And heat waves are expected to increase in intensity with climate change.

Ruthenium, a transition metal, is a key component of catalysts used to speed up chemical reactions in the food, pharmaceutical and petroleum products industries. Ruthenium does its job well. But it’s scarce, pricey and toxic.

What do you do with a dead, 400-year-old tree? If your specialty is animal architecture, you turn it into a living habitat/art project. That’s what UB architect Joyce Hwang did in collaboration with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Parks and Conservation Service. 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded Say Yes Buffalo and its partner institutions — including UB — a 22-month, $2.9 million grant to increase college completion rates for Buffalo Public Schools graduates.

Even brief variations in a city’s seasonal weather can totally throw entire metro areas into chaos. Montreal, Canada, experienced record-breaking heat last year that led to 66 preventable deaths.

Summers often bring a wave of childhood memories: lounging poolside, trips to the local amusement park, languid, steamy days at the beach. These nostalgic recollections, however, aren’t held by all Americans.

Coffee as a pathway to peace. It sounds strange. And yet, on an island in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, that’s exactly what’s percolating.

What do you do with a dead, 400-year-old tree? If your specialty is animal architecture, you turn it into a living habitat/art project. That’s what UB architect Joyce Hwang did in collaboration with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Parks and Conservation Service. 

Before any new playground, sledding hill or trails transform Buffalo's LaSalle Park over the next decade, some other key work will come first.

Before any new playground, sledding hill or trails transform Buffalo's LaSalle Park over the next decade, some other key work will come first.

“We started off with just an idea. We didn’t have a product, and we didn’t even know if this was possible to finish.” So says Anish Ajay Kirtane, a graduate student in the Department of Civil Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Going head-to-head with teams from around the world, three UB School of Management graduate students took first place at the 2019 Global Analytics Competition (GAC), held June 3-4 in Washington, D.C.

Join the UB team for the Green Your Commute Challenge (GYCC), a summer-long competition between state agencies, local governments and SUNY and CUNY institutions to see whose employees can reduce their institution’s carbon emissions the most by greening their commutes.

Oscar A. Silverman Library, the University at Buffalo’s 24-hour library that receives nearly 1.3 million visits per year, has been certified silver under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices.

Going head-to-head with teams from around the world, three UB School of Management graduate students took first place at the 2019 Global Analytics Competition (GAC), held June 3-4 in Washington, D.C.

A new Manhattan pop-up experience, “Ocean Cube,” takes visitors underwater in a technical simulation filled with bioluminescent sea creatures.

By the end of June, 240,000 bees will be buzzing in six hives in green space between Crofts Hall and Bizer Creek on the North Campus, thanks to the persistence of a bee-loving UB student and faculty member.

Albert Makila Mangapi has spent his life running from war in his native Republic of the Congo. He walked 450 miles to avoid being shot, then started his family over as refugees in Kenya, where they were not allowed to work.

A new UB study based on levels before, during and after the Beijing Olympics reveals how air pollution affects the human body at the level of metabolites. Researchers found that 69 metabolites changed significantly when air pollution changed. Their results were published May 29 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Two UB-affiliated teams are set to compete June 5 in Detroit in the semifinals of ErieHack 2.0, an innovative water-solutions competition that was first held two years ago.

UB students Isabel Hall, Danielle Vasquez and Kelley Mosher expected to win the global finals of the 2018 World’s Challenge Challenge (WCC), an international competition where the winning pitch, which tackles a major global issue, is provided with funding to move forward.

Two Buffalo re-pats came up with a pretty cool idea. Agnes Wilewicz and Jesse Farinacci are the co-developers of The Buffalo Cool Roof Project, an app that identifies dark roofs that could be painted white, decreasing the energy use of the structure.

Two Buffalo re-pats came up with a pretty cool idea. Agnes Wilewicz and Jesse Farinacci are the co-developers of The Buffalo Cool Roof Project, an app that identifies dark roofs that could be painted white, decreasing the energy use of the structure.

There’s a new episode in the ongoing balance between wildlife and life at UB: The Canada goose who returns to take up residence each spring at the School of Law now — because of an upcoming internationally known guest —has a catchy name: Ruth Bader Gooseburg.

Scientists were studying ecohydrology for decades before it became an official ‘ology’. Find out how this field has evolved over the past century.

At Triad Recycling and Energy Corporation in Tonawanda, employees take waste that's headed to the dump, and recycle it. Drywall gets shredded and turned into flooring for cattle. Foam from mattresses gets shredded too, and is made into carpet padding. 

In a new class, UB students are confronting the challenge of climate change by working with local companies to cut their carbon footprints.

On its 49th birthday, Earth Day is having a midlife crisis. In the beginning, it was a policy-shaking event that awakened a new generation of activists. But now even environmentalists have misgivings about it. Sure, they can get behind planting trees and clearing trash out of rivers, but they have issues with Earth Day itself.

Green Your Commute Day and National Bike to Work Day on May 17 promote and celebrate sustainable modes of transportation.

UB’s virtual food pantry program, Blue Table, is officially accessible to students. Sherri Darrow, director of Health Promotion, announced the program went live on April 19.

Tis the season for sustainability rankings in higher education, and UB fares well on two lists that track green power usage among the nation’s colleges and universities.

More grim news from the Arctic: Greenland’s ice sheet has shrunk six times faster than normal since the 1980s, and it could keep melting for decades even if humans significantly reduce carbon emissions.

In most cities and towns around the country, Pride Week occurs in June or July. For example, Buffalo’s Pride Week runs from May 28-June 2. The timing of such celebrations, however, means that many UB students aren’t able to participate in the festivities since they’ve either returned home or are working summer jobs or internships.

As a medical case manager for Evergreen Health in Buffalo, Theo Have assists many refugee patients. Too often, Have’s clients experience health issues that are directly related to their housing situation.

Hassaballah, fellow graduate student Anish Ajay Kirtane and Business Administration junior Olivia Burgner earned first place in UB’s World’s Challenge Challenge (WCC), and $3,000, for their work on a sustainable beef alternative addressing three of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

Is there a product besides plastic that’s more omnipresent in people’s lives today? It’s everywhere, and in everything, from straws and Styrofoam, to grocery bags and water bottles.

Is there a product besides plastic that’s more omnipresent in people’s lives today? It’s everywhere, and in everything, from straws and Styrofoam, to grocery bags and water bottles.

People eat animals that eat plants. If we just eliminate that middle step and eat plants directly, we would diminish our carbon footprint, decrease agricultural land usage, eliminate health risks associated with red meat and alleviate ethical concerns over animal welfare. 

Is there a product besides plastic that’s more omnipresent in people’s lives today? It’s everywhere, and in everything, from straws and Styrofoam, to grocery bags and water bottles.

The University at Buffalo is ranked No. 3 in climate action among 250 institutions worldwide, according to the first-ever Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings revealed April 3.

Human beings originated in Africa about 100,000 years ago and have developed societies during the past 200 years that have contributed to climate change, which risks making the globe uninhabitable for our species and many others.

Girls with an interest in technology and entrepreneurship will have the chance to spend the day with likeminded souls at Girls Get IT, a free public event happening later this month.

Is there a product besides plastic that’s more omnipresent in people’s lives today? It’s everywhere, and in everything, from straws and Styrofoam, to grocery bags and water bottles.

Ever heard of The Green Program? I hadn’t either. Fortunately, one of their student ambassadors is at our University and took some time to fill us in on what the program entails, who is eligible, and why the experience has made him even more passionate about working on sustainability issues.

As a medical case manager for Evergreen Health in Buffalo, Theo Have assists many refugee patients. Too often, Have’s clients experience health issues that are directly related to their housing situation.

Looking over the lengthy list of events coming up as part of Sustainability Month at UB, one thing in particular stands out: The vast majority of them — and there are more than 40 in all — are touched by units that don’t fall directly under the UB Sustainability umbrella.

Students across the globe are fighting for climate change. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says here in Buffalo, a City Honors School student is organizing a walk-out for this Friday, March 15, to demand climate justice.  

Students across the globe are fighting for climate change. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says here in Buffalo, a City Honors School student is organizing a walk-out for this Friday, March 15, to demand climate justice.  

The story goes like this: Zandra Cunningham was obsessed with lip balm. When her dad stopped bankrolling her habit, the 9-year-old had to learn to make her own. Nine years later, that's turned into a $500,000 skin care company with products sold nationwide in such stores as Costco and Target.

The little boy and his mother boarded the bus, picked out some produce, paid and took off. Just two more customers served by the Farm Express mobile market in the Phoenix area. So thought Elyse Guidas, its executive director. Then, a few days later, she got an email from the boy’s mother.

There is such an astonishing quantity and variety of waste coursing in, around and above the planet that it can be easy to think of all of it as one dense, destructive substance—but there are degrees. Some kinds of trash are worse than other kinds, and it is worth knowing which is which, as we hover in the mudroom of apocalypse.

There is such an astonishing quantity and variety of waste coursing in, around and above the planet that it can be easy to think of all of it as one dense, destructive substance—but there are degrees. Some kinds of trash are worse than other kinds, and it is worth knowing which is which, as we hover in the mudroom of apocalypse.

Political activist Angela Davis celebrated the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and spoke about social justice issues throughout the world before a large audience in Alumni Arena Wednesday night during an appearance as part of UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series.

The laufmaschine was a funny looking contraption with an even funnier sounding name. But it was invented by a German nobleman in 1816 in response to a very serious climate crisis that impacted the entire world.

The sounds of “may-me-my-mo-moo” thunder through a room in UB’s Biomedical Education Building on a recent Wednesday afternoon. Following that comes the fierce projection of a piercing “ah” sound. Luckily, no one is hurt; these roaring shouts are coming from individuals with Parkinson’s disease who are patients of the UB Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic’s newest program, The LOUD Crowd®. 

For Pete Logiudice, sustainability at UB means a lot of things. It’s the 70 percent natural light that filters into the Pharmacy Building on South Campus. It’s the group of employees who meet once a week to go for a lunchtime walk. It’s the GRoW Home, which produces more energy than it consumes. These are all facts that Logiudice, who works in human resources, loves to share when he leads new employee orientation sessions.

Within the next year or so, UB students will have a new opportunity to contribute to health care in Haiti in a big way. Kimberley Persons, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science, is working with a New York-based organization and a university in Haiti to provide occupational and physical therapy training in a country that’s severely lacking it.

Taking an in-depth assessment of campus culture integrating diversity, equity and inclusion at UB, the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIX) will conduct a wide-ranging survey focused on enhancing and strengthening the variety of initiatives supporting all members of the university community.

Through pitch contests, courses on entrepreneurship and more, the University at Buffalo and regional partners have invested increased resources in supporting the local startup community in recent years.

The University at Buffalo-led initiative to generate 100 megawatts of on- and off-site renewable energy hit a milestone today with the issuing of requests for proposals (RFPs).

A UB architecture student’s efforts to find a community use for his class project has helped establish a class-wide venture that will place 10 student-built works in urban gardens across Buffalo.

Long before the Distinguished Speakers Series, UB was a destination for powerful figures in the civil rights and political movements of the 1960s-70s, hosting influential guests that ranged from Malcolm X to Muhammad Ali.

Taking an in-depth assessment of campus culture integrating diversity, equity and inclusion at UB, the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIX) will conduct a wide-ranging survey focused on enhancing and strengthening the variety of initiatives supporting all members of the university community.

You may never have heard about mucositis, but for those going through cancer treatment, this common side effect makes an already challenging situation that much worse.

A handful of UB law students are on the front lines of the national debate over immigration policy and the U.S. government’s treatment of immigrants as they volunteer their legal expertise to immigrants seeking to cross into the United States from Mexico.

New state election laws will make it easier for voters to cast their ballots. But life will get harder for prospective political challengers, party leaders and elections commissioners for upstate areas like Erie County.

What was left behind at Tonawanda Coke has become clear. Start with 900,000 gallons of ammonia waste. Then add the leaky tanks and contaminated equipment. A moat filled with chemicals still needs to be drained, but is considered less of an immediate threat to the Niagara River as once feared, federal and state regulators said of their on-site work.

Antarctic glaciers have been melting at an accelerating pace over the past four decades thanks to an influx of warm ocean water — a startling new finding that researchers say could mean sea levels are poised to rise more quickly than predicted in coming decades.

Elijah Tyson, ColdSpace founder and CEO, stopped by UB Sustainability office to give more insight into why it matters, what’s next, and his philosophies that keep him going.

The University at Buffalo is placing an emphasis on giving students real-world academic experience to complement their classroom studies. That effort will take an environmental bent this year as the university hosts three initiatives dedicated to environmental sustainability.

Buffalo has a growing collection of startup companies that see an opportunity to build scalable tech while having a positive environmental impact. Here’s a look at some of the local clean-tech startups that have garnered attention from potential investors and customers.

Shielded by wraparound sunglasses and a windbreaker against a gusty fall day, Jill Spisiak Jedlicka strides across a lawn toward New York’s Buffalo River.

Dartmouth College Press has released an updated and expanded edition of “Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader,” co-edited by Susan Cahn, professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Collectively, it’s called “Hacking Our World.” Individually, each of the three competitions UB Sustainability is bringing to campus this academic year will offer students the chance to take on some of the region’s and the world’s most pressing problems.

In recent years, many of America’s urban schools have improved significantly. A 2016 report from the Urban Institute found that while all the country’s public-school students improved in the decade starting in 2005, the gain for those in large cities was double that of the U.S. average; the advances are especially pronounced in kids’ reading scores. With these strides, the achievement gap between city districts and their suburban and rural counterparts closed by roughly a third during that same period.

Rock snot. Ice jam flooding. Nitrogen pollution. An influx of hydrilla, an invasive plant that resembles a bottlebrush. Each fall, UB students in an environmental management class come up with creative proposals for tackling these and other challenges facing the Cattaraugus Creek watershed.

Mark Poloncarz and Assemblymember Sean Ryan headlined the rally outside New Era on Monday, and there were come pretty critical words spoken. "An international design firm coupled with local union labor - what could be better?" asked Ryan. "But New Era recently announced they're going to do a thing called a pivot," said Ryan.

n open house last month presented options for three sites on the Outer Harbor: an area nearly 150 acres stretching between the Bell Slip and Wilkeson Pointe; the 15 acres around Terminal B, a vacant building at the southern end of the Outer Harbor; and the 16-acre marina.

Against the backdrop of a contentious national debate over immigration policy and widespread protest over the U.S. government’s treatment of immigrants seeking to cross into the United States from Mexico, a handful of UB law students are poised to provide hands-on help to asylum seekers.

The wave of post-industrial decline that swept over Rust Belt cities during the second half of the 20th century left in its wake a host of urban challenges: vacancy and blight, poverty, racial segregation and scarred industrial landscapes.

But a city in flux is also one with potential—and, in the case of Buffalo, N.Y., fertile ground for university-city investigations in urbanism.

On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, University of Buffalo Law Professor Irus Braverman discusses her new book, Coral Whisperers: Scientists on the Brink. Coral reefs are described as the rain forests of the ocean, but over the last 30 years, they’ve been devastated by global warming, over-fishing, pollution, coastal development, and ocean acidification.

A couple of young entrepreneurs at University at Buffalo have come up with an ingenious way for students, office workers, and others, to safely refrigerate their food while at school or at work. UB alumni Elijah Tyson and Abid Alam are calling their new concept ColdSpace. 

A new report developed by UB urban planning students offers strategies for how Chautauqua County in New York can harness the food system for economic development and health. The report, titled “Cultivating Prosperity in Chautauqua County: Leveraging the Food System as a Catalyst for Economic Development,” resulted from a partnership between the community and UB researchers. 

Theodore (Ted) Jojola, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor and Regents’ Professor in the Community & Regional Planning Program, School of Architecture + Planning, University of New Mexico (UNM).

On a dreary, rainy, Saturday morning, one might be inclined to slip down under the covers for a few more winks. But not dozens of UB students, who ignored that natural urge last weekend to take part in UB’s Fall Community Day, a biannual day of service organized by the Office of Community Relations.

Winona LaDuke is a rural development economist and author working on issues of Indigenous Economics , Food and Energy Policy. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is the Executive Director of Honor the Earth (HtE).

The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation finds itself facing a pretty remarkable question. How much can a philanthropy do for just two distinct regions, giving $1.2 billion in 20 years? (Well, it’s more money than that, given investment returns, and we’re actually down to just 16 years, but you get the picture.)

Leading off UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series, former Vice President Joe Biden told a sold-out audience yesterday that, “In the end, words matter. Our leaders need to lower the temperature of our public dialogue. “We cannot allow America to be defined by race, religion or political beliefs.” Biden, the Undergraduate Student Choice speaker, took the stage to a standing ovation from an audience of more than 6,000 in Alumni Arena on the North Campus.