Latest News

When Katie McClain-Meeder and her husband, Jesse Meeder, were searching for some available land in the country a few years ago, they weren’t shopping for a farm, specifically. So when the couple discovered 43 acres for sale south of Franklinville, they decided to make the purchase. The land had possibilities.

August was hot. Signaled by images of parched grasslands and flaming forests in places as far apart as California, Greece, Australia and Siberia and of smog shrouded citizens in India and China, increasingly high temperatures also created sweltering cities.

Scratching your head for ways to incorporate sustainability in your home or at work? Plenty of advice — and free samples — will be available at the 2018 Sustainable Living Fair sponsored by the Professional Staff Senate’s Sustainable Living Committee and Campus Dining and Shops.

Former U.S. Representative Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) cares about “climate realism,” and he’s going around the country to spread his message. Inglis spoke to over 30 UB community members in Student Union 210 on Thursday evening. Inglis talked about free enterprise, “high octane conservatism” and his justification for carbon taxes. UB Sustainability and UB’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter, a group which embraces libertarian political values, co-sponsored the speech. Inglis also attended the UB Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter event in O’Brien Hall 112 after his speech in SU.

A former congressman who is leading the movement among conservatives championing free enterprise solutions to climate change will give a talk at UB later this week as part of republicEn’s EnCourage Tour. Bob Inglis, who represented South Carolina’s 4th congressional district for 12 years in the House of Representatives, will give a talk titled “Solving climate change with courage and conservative principles” from 6-7 p.m. Thursday in the Landmark Room (210) of the Student Union, North Campus. A Q&A will follow.

Democracy demands a robust contest of ideas to thrive, and diversity is the best way of protecting the democratic foundation of the American experiment, according to a UB philosopher. Diversity inspires new thoughts and ideas while discouraging stagnation and increasing the possibilities of finding better ways to address various issues.

As the Sept. 15 launch date for NASA’s new ice-monitoring satellite approaches, UB scientists are among many worldwide who are counting down the days. They’re excited, but nervous, too. That’s what happens when your future research is reliant on equipment that’s going to be hurled, atop a flaming rocket, into the harsh environs of outer space. Or when — as in the case of UB climate scientist Beata Csatho — you actually helped to build the thing that’s blasting into orbit.

How do you pack more power into an electric car? The answer may be electronic transistors made of gallium oxide, which could enable automakers to boost energy output while keeping vehicles lightweight and streamlined in design.

Going to a school as large as UB can be daunting for many incoming freshmen and transfer students, which is why the Office of Student Engagement is committed to creating new ways to foster a sense of community and belonging for those new to UB.

As UB’s Ellicott Complex was filled with energy on Thursday with new students moving into residence halls, one of the prime examples of students being environmentally conscious was amid all of the excitement. Two tents, positioned next to Crossroads Culinary Center, contained all sorts of everyday items essential to living in the residence halls. Used desk lamps, rugs, laundry baskets, mini-refrigerators, and even textbooks were all for sale thanks to the work of UB ReUSE.

Installing solar panels at the Cazenovia Park ice rink. Making streetlights more energy efficient on Genesee and Niagara streets. Curbing pollution in Scajaquada Creek.

All are examples of how UB’s Institute for Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water (RENEW) is working with the city of Buffalo to help create a smarter, cleaner and more resilient community.

As UB graduate students Alyssa Bergsten and Aric Gaughan settled into their summer internship, they quickly discovered the prevailing attitude toward safety in the construction industry: “Suck it up, and get back to work,” Gaughan says. It was their mission to change that mindset.

Working with Oneida Sales and Service, Bergsten and Gaughan used their varied backgrounds in social work and business, respectively, to devise a person-centered program to demonstrate the company’s commitment to safety, train managers and improve overall safety for workers.

Quacking fills the air. Suddenly, a dozen or so ducks swim to shore, their swiftly moving webbed feet creating W-shaped ripples in the water. A duckling explores its new aquatic world. Nearby, a gaggle of Canada geese honk. An osprey circles overhead, scouring the water below for the catch of the day. And then — silence. All is calm on the water.

You may have noticed the vehicle — it resembles a Fred Flintstone teardrop camper, but with many more windows — parked in the Center for Tomorrow Lot, or tooling around the back roads near Helm Warehouse and Crofts Hall.

That’s Olli, and the self-driving electric shuttle that advances New York State as a hub for autonomous vehicle research made its public debut yesterday as part of the Fourth Annual Symposium on Transportation Informatics. The two-day conference at UB brings together nationwide leaders in next-generation transportation technologies.

Much of the talk about buildings and climate change has focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What often gets overlooked is ensuring that buildings are prepared for future climate impacts. That’s imperative because with climate change will come more frequent, intense storms, along with other climate-related hazards.

Isabel Hall, an incoming senior in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering presented The Flow Project, an initiative she started with UB students from the Departments of Urban and Regional Planning and Business Administration/Public Health, at the World’s Challenge Challenge in London, Ontario.

UB’s end-of-the-academic-year collection efforts resulted in 14.5 tons of items not being sent to the landfill, Ken Kern, Campus Living’s associate director for sustainability, recently reported.

UB researchers convened representatives from government and community agencies in Buffalo, Erie County, Cleveland and Tempe for the Smart and Connected Communities Buffalo Forum in Hayes Hall on June 29.

Officials of the New York State Canal Corp. would do well not to repeat the mistakes made down the Thruway in cutting down hundred of trees along the historic waterway without adequate notice.

Maple, cherry, willow and ash were among the trees removed along the Erie Canal by contractors. This green massacre occurred along raised canal-owned embankments in Orleans and Monroe counties. Some of the trees had diameters of up to 2 feet.

How has air pollution affected the health of communities in Grand Island, the City of Tonawanda and Town of Tonawanda?

Residents and workers in these areas are invited to enroll in a long-term study that addresses these and other important questions.

It’s a gorgeous, sunny Thursday on the North Campus. Some UB staff members and I gather near Greiner Hall for a nature excursion. We’re taking a break from the work day to see a part of UB that few appreciate or even know much about.

Britney-Bay Croyle has always enjoyed the many murals painted throughout the Center for the Arts. She loves them so much that she hoped she could make her own one day.

“As a freshman, when I first started taking studio art classes, I enjoyed the murals around the Center for the Arts so much,” says Croyle, a rising senior art major. “I went with UB SLIDE (Student Leadership International Dialogue and Exchange program) to Ireland and there was a girl who just finished her mural and we bonded over her experience doing it. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t wait to do that one day.’”

Tenants in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, receive drastically inferior household services and pay more rent compared to those in its formal settlements, according to new research from the School of Management.

Student perceptions of diversity at UB will be the focus of an “Open Conversation on Campus Diversity” being held June 26 on the North Campus.

Hosted by the Professional Staff Senate’s Inclusion and Diversity Committee, the forum will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. in 210 Student Union, North Campus.

How is the Antarctic ice sheet changing in a warming world?

A new study that answers this question is significant in part because it represents many of the leading scientists in the field speaking with one voice on this important issue, says UB ice sheet researcher Beata Csatho.

As an intern last spring with Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, Molly Dreyer helped run many of the organization’s planting events across the region’s watershed. That experience sparked Dreyer’s idea to do something similar to give Lake LaSalle on UB’s North Campus a much-needed shot of life.

Jesse Cole imagined himself becoming a highly paid physician working in a fancy hospital, just like those featured on television shows. "That would be my career," said Cole, who was raised in suburban Maryland and came to Buffalo to study medicine. But his thinking shifted. Why? Because of the semester he and 13 fellow students at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences spent in one of Buffalo's poorest neighborhoods.

Buffalo played host to a group of adventurous guests: about 80 glacier and ice sheet scientists who came from as far away as New Zealand and Abu Dhabi to discuss the latest climate change research at a conference hosted by the UB Department of Geology.

SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson had a role in the highest-grossing film of all time. She didn’t appear in “Avatar,” but a company she co-founded was responsible for its Academy Award-winning visual effects, specifically the 3D images of the blue Na’vi people.

What’s better than platinum? In hydrogen fuel cells, the answer is cofacial cobalt porphyrins. It’s a mouthful to say, and if you’re not a chemist, you’ve probably never heard of these compounds before. But these molecules — which are great at facilitating a chemical reaction that’s needed to produce power from hydrogen and oxygen — could be the next big advance in alternative energy.

An international conference on glaciers and ice sheets will bring about 80 climate researchers from around the world to Buffalo this June. The event — the International Glaciological Society (IGS) Symposium on Timescales, Processes and Glacier Dynamics — will feature presentations by some of the leading climate researchers of our time. The aim is to advance scientific knowledge of how ice sheets and glaciers respond to climate change, which could lead to improved predictions of how quickly sea levels will rise over the next century and beyond.

UB’s South Campus Revitalization Plan is finally getting into gear. Changes coming to the university’s historic Main Street campus, which include renovations and demolitions, were revealed during a public forum on Wednesday in Wende Hall on the South Campus.

Within the past decade, renewable energy has doubled its contribution as a percentage of overall power generation in the United States—from 9 percent in 2008 to 18 percent in 2017. According to the Business Council for Sustainable Energy’s 2018 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), U.S. wind and solar capacity has increased more than 471 percent since 2008, from 25 gigawatts (GW) to 143 GW.

A team that proposes addressing solid waste management in low-resource communities through an innovative approach to adolescent education will represent UB next month in the global finals of the World’s Challenge Challenge.

Two scientific teams led or co-led by University at Buffalo researchers have received new funding through the Great Lakes Research Consortium to explore these questions, with the potential to improve the health of regional waters — one of Western New York’s most precious natural resources. SUNY Buffalo State is co-leading one of the projects.

UB administrators, faculty and staff will need to act with intentionality and university-wide coordination to integrate diversity and inclusion more deeply into all aspects of university operations.

That proposal was a focal point of the keynote panel discussion at UB’s inaugural Inclusive Excellence Summit held Tuesday in the Student Union Theater on the North Campus.

In 2008, Cuthbert Ayodeji “Ayo” Onikute (BA ’07) was a recent college graduate living in the midsize West African city of Kankan, Guinea. There was no running water or electricity, and he recalls having to climb a tree to get a strong enough signal to use his cellphone. But it was the memory of enormous piles of garbage he walked by daily on his way to teach English at the University of Kankan that would later serve as inspiration for the company he launched in 2015: Dechets a l’Or (or DalO), from the French for “waste to gold.”

Hiking a volcano, touring banana and coffee plantations, ascending through a cloud forest, all while spending time in a tropical paradise. It sounds like a perfect getaway, but for the 16 UB students enrolled in CIE 464 Sustainability in Latin America, winter break in Costa Rica was hard work … mostly.

UB has had a pretty dominant year in Mid-American Conference athletic competition. Turns out, the university also leads the MAC when it comes to power of another variety. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized UB as a conference champion in its 2017-18 College and University Green Power Challenge, the results of which were announced on April 25. UB currently uses more green power than any other school in the MAC, according to the EPA.

The wind industry is growing quickly around the world, especially in China and the U.S., where the total amount of electricity generated by wind turbines nearly doubled between 2011 and 2017.

All told, about 25 percent of global electricity now comes from renewable sources like hydropower, wind and solar energy.

The harmful effects of electronic waste in developing countries is the subject of a photo exhibit at the CFA by engineering professor Nirupam Aich. The show, which ends Thursday, is presented by UB Sustainability.

Three research projects have been selected to receive funding from UB’s RENEW Institute, which is dedicated to solving complex environmental problems.

“These RENEW-funded projects address critical problems related to climate change, chemical exposure among school children, and the need for more efficient and higher performance semiconductors for renewable energy applications,” says Amit Goyal, director of RENEW, which stands for Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water. “We anticipate that each of these projects will lay the foundation for successful grant applications in the areas of energy, environment and water sustainability.”

Sustainability Month at UB is 30 days long — give or take — but 17 is the magic number. That’s the number of goals nearly 200 United Nations member countries adopted in 2015 as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Those goals are serving as the framework for many of the events and activities planned for this year’s Sustainability Month, which begins March 29 and continues through May 1. It is organized by UB Sustainability in collaboration with numerous schools and departments at UB. The goals have also helped frame many of UB’s sustainability efforts in recent years and will continue to do so moving forward.

Is your smartphone charger cord frayed? Perhaps you lost a button on your favorite shirt. Or maybe your favorite necklace needs fixing. All of these needs — and more — can be taken care of during a repair and reuse fair happening next week in the Student Union lobby, North Campus.

The repair fair is being hosted by UB’s Office of Sustainability as part of the Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN) Points of Intervention campus tour, which is visiting 12 other universities across the country this spring.

Young people don’t get a pass on the issues of the day, former National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice told an enthusiastic UB audience on Wednesday. “Venting on Facebook isn’t good enough. Your engagement is not optional,” Rice, the featured speaker for UB’s 42nd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration, said at the lecture in Alumni Arena on the North Campus.

Michael Rembis is first and foremost a historian. An associate professor of history working in disability research, Rembis is also director of UB’s Center for Disability Studies (UBCDS). He says addressing disability in its full complexity can promote participation, self-determination and equal citizenship for people living with disabilities in society.

UB’s award-winning GRoW Home will soon need a change-of-address form. That’s because the 1,100-square-foot, ultra-efficient dwelling will be relocated from its current spot on the South Campus to a more prominent, and permanent, location next to the Solar Strand on the North Campus.

In order to power entire communities with clean energy, such as solar and wind power, a reliable backup storage system is needed to provide energy when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t out. One possibility is to use any excess solar- and wind-based energy to charge solutions of chemicals that can subsequently be stored for use when sunshine and wind are scarce. During these down times, chemical solutions of opposite charge can be pumped across solid electrodes, creating an electron exchange that provides power to the electrical grid.

Searching for a power outlet may soon become a thing of the past. Instead, devices will receive electricity from a small metallic tab that, when attached to the body, is capable of generating electricity from bending a finger and other simple movements.

Novelist, literary critic and environmental activist Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the best-selling novel that inspired the television series of the same name, will deliver the keynote address on March 9 to open “Humanities to the Rescue,” a weekend of programming presented by UB’s Humanities Institute (HI) that also includes an environmental film series that continues through the remainder of that weekend.

Amit Goyal, an internationally recognized materials scientist and director of UB’s RENEW Institute, has been named a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Election to the academy is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Goyal is one of 83 new members and 16 foreign members announced on Wednesday, bringing the academy’s total U.S. membership to 2,293 and the number of foreign members to 262.

Three UB startups have received six-figure awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support commercialization of promising technologies that could benefit society by improving health care and providing broader access to clean water. The new funding recognizes the potential impact of the UB startups, which are working to improve the safety of MRI scans, enable early identification of unruptured brain aneurysms, and help alleviate drinking water shortages worldwide.

Co-workers say you’re too aggressive, and suggest you act more feminine. Your boss continuously questions your work, but readily accepts the work of male counterparts. Your PhD adviser suggests that your pregnancy is distracting you from finishing your thesis. Many women pursuing careers in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce face such scenarios. Yet they seldom receive instruction on how to best handle them.

The result? Women leave STEM jobs or are dissuaded from seeking leadership roles.

John D. Atkinson believes engineering students want to study abroad, but struggle to fit semester-long trips into dense schedules. So he found a way they can have that opportunity. Atkinson, assistant professor of environmental engineering, was one of eight UB faculty members who traveled to Costa Rica last June as part of UB’s first-ever Study Abroad incubator, a program for faculty and staff interested in designing and leading new study abroad initiatives.

The Western New York Prosperity Fellows spent the day with UB Sustainability on January 21st as part of their week long retreat around the region. The day started with an overview from Chief Sustainability Officer, Ryan McPherson, on how the University frames sustainability through the Sustainable Development Goals to accomplish a more resilient campus and creates the next generation of change agents. They then traveled to Wendel Architects to get some insight on how local businesses have been transitioning their operations to be more sustainable from the Western New York Sustainable Business Roundtable.

The University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine is delivering more than healthy smiles this February. For its annual Give Kids A Smile Day — a national program dedicated to raising awareness about the prevalence of untreated dental disease and teaching children good dental health habits — the School of Dental Medicine will expand its services beyond oral health care to include free services from nurses, dieticians, social workers and audiologists.

Lake effect snowfall is one of nature’s greatest snow machines: It happens when cold winds flow over warmer water, giving rise to intense bands of precipitation that can dump several feet of snow on a single location in hours or days.

A new UB study aims to learn more about this phenomenon, which has sired some of the Great Lakes region’s most epic weather events — including a 2014 storm that buried parts of Western New York under 7 feet of snow.

Most of them haven’t checked into their flights to Puerto Rico yet but the students from the University at Buffalo School of Law who are providing legal services to the island’s residents say their legal paths have already been changed forever as a result.

“Since I joined, my feelings and my state of mind has gone from despair and sadness to a sense of hope and purpose,” said Jonathan Reyes-Colon. “I have met wonderful people who have looked at my country as I look at it, with the same kindness, the same heart, the same willingness not only to help but to tell the world about who we are, Puerto Ricans.”

NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENTREPRENEUR Lydia Pinkham had been cooking up herbal remedies in her Massachusetts cellar kitchen for years, grinding herbs like pleurisy root and bottling the resulting compound to share with her female neighbors. Over time, the home remedy developed a strong reputation for relief from cramps and menstrual pain, and her family started encouraging her to sell the blend. In 1875, Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound hit the market at $1 per bottle, becoming so popular that Pinkham started to receive up to a hundred letters a day from women seeking health care advice.

Architects have turned to terra cotta for millennia. The clay-based ceramic is durable, lasting hundreds of years; it breathes, providing a natural system to transfer heat and water; and its sculptural qualities turn buildings into intricate and colorful works of art.

When hurricanes Maria and Irma tore through the Caribbean, they not only wreaked havoc on land, but also devastated ocean ecosystems.

Coral reefs off St. John, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, suffered severe injury during the storms, say scientists from UB and California State University, Northridge, who traveled there in late November to assess the damage, the first step in understanding the reefs’ recovery.

We studied the roots of schizophrenia. We explored the origins of the Yeti myth. We designed a solar-powered water purifier, a vaccine for pneumonia and a cybersecurity system that scans the dimensions of a user’s heart.

In 2017, UB students and faculty broke new scientific ground and pushed creative boundaries in ways that will benefit human societies for years to come. News outlets worldwide took note, with coverage of UB projects in The New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic and more.

The School of Law has joined the Rockefeller Institute of Government in launching a new center to examine pressing issues at the intersection of law and policy, and their effects on local communities.

The new Center for Law and Policy Solutions (CLPS) also includes as partners the Government Law Center at Albany Law School and the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs.

Sixty-four years after moving to the South Campus, the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has returned to downtown Buffalo.

The massive $375 million, 628,000-square-foot building officially opened today at 955 Main St., just steps from where it was located from 1893 to 1953.

In the not-too-distant future, parking could be a lot easier, recycling could be more efficient, and finding community space at the library and other buildings would be painless.

For years, policymakers have relied upon surveys and census data to track and respond to extreme poverty.

While effective, assembling this information is costly and time-consuming, and it often lacks detail that aid organizations and governments need in order to best deploy their resources.

That could soon change.

A scorching heat wave in the Phoenix area killed more than 100 people in the summer of 2016 as temperatures soared to near 120 degrees.

Over three days in November 2014, a massive snowstorm — dubbed “Snowvember” — dumped more than 7 feet of snow across parts of Western New York, causing 13 deaths.

The total cost of structural fires in the United States in 2014 was $328.5 billion.

That’s according to a new report written by UB engineers and issued by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

The report looks at structural fires — those involving residential, commercial and industrial buildings. It does not examine wildfires, vehicle fires and other outdoor fires.

Who hasn’t cursed their smartphone battery? Or downloaded something that took too much time or data? Thought so.

To alleviate these annoyances — and build a more energy-efficient and less costly internet — IBM has awarded UB computer scientists Tevfik Kosar and Murat Demirbas $75,000 to develop a software-based solution that reduces the energy consumption of existing computing hardware.

South Africa’s Cape Floristic Region is one of the richest repositories of plant life in the world.

Here, about 20 percent of Africa’s flora grows in a landscape that accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the continent’s area, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The diversity of plant life is among the highest on the planet. About 69 percent of the region’s estimated 9,000 plant species live nowhere else in the world.

Kelly Hayes McAlonie arrived at UB thinking about education, architecture and continuity of learning.

Named as the university’s associate director of Capital, Facilities and Space Planning in May 2010, her first job was to conduct a master plan for the new home of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Buffalo is a city on the rebound, but the scars of its industrial past remain visible in the form of vacant properties and brownfields. A renewable energy initiative being spearheaded by UB — and made possible through funding from New York State — aims to invest in the city’s urban core while reducing energy costs for a who’s who of Buffalo-area anchor institutions. It could also help save taxpayer dollars while creating more efficient budgeting for the participating institutions.

“Energy Storage: A Keystone in the Renewable Energy Future” is the topic of the next lecture in the RENEW Institute’s Distinguished Lecture Series on Nov. 16. The lecture will be given by Esther S. Takeuchi, SUNY Distinguished Professor and William and Jane Knapp Chair in Energy and the Environment at Stony Brook University and chief scientist in the Energy Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

A UB geologist will journey to the Caribbean island of St. John this month to study the impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria on coral reefs in the region

AAU President Mary Sue Coleman, named by Time magazine in 2009 as one of the nation’s “10 best college presidents,” will visit UB Nov. 15-16 as the featured speaker at this year’s “Critical Conversations,” the presidential series showcasing distinguished individuals at the forefront of their fields who are helping to shape understanding of vital issues facing the world today.

Imagine an apartment tower that expands — and downsizes — to respond to our rapidly changing lifestyles. This off-the-charts smart building design has won UB architecture professor Jin Young Song first place in an international competition to consider design in the “self-evolving city.”

The School of Law has launched a new law clinic in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, which has left thousands of Puerto Ricans in critical need of legal assistance. Through the Puerto Rico Recovery Assistance Legal Clinic, a group of specially trained UB law students will learn relevant law in Buffalo and then travel to Puerto Rico in January to offer hands-on legal assistance, providing direct access to justice for those in urgent need.

For Krishna Rajan, diversity is more than just being different. Diversity is not simply about including people from different backgrounds, but rather, bringing them together to enrich the community as a whole.

“To achieve this, you need the right people and a nurturing environment,” says Rajan, an internationally recognized expert on materials informatics and the Eric Bloch Endowed Chair of UB’s new Department of Materials Design and Innovation (MDI).

UB’s strategic diversity and inclusion plan, “Our Commitment to Inclusive Excellence,” focuses on coordinating and facilitating diversity and inclusion-related efforts and processes campus-wide to integrate inclusive excellence into all aspects of university operations.

In 2004, pneumonia killed more than 2 million children worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. By 2015, the number was less than 1 million. Better access to antibiotics and improved nutrition account for part of the decline. But scientists say it’s mostly due to vaccines introduced in the early 2000s that target up to 23 of the most deadly forms of Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterium that causes pneumonia.

Cayo Santiago is a tiny, curiously shaped island not far from Puerto Rico’s eastern shore. A bit larger than half of a square mile, it might go unnoticed, if it’s included at all, on less detailed maps of the Caribbean. But Carol Berman, a professor in UB’s Department of Anthropology and an expert in primate social behavior, knows the island well. She’s been doing research there since 1974 and is among the scientists calling attention to Cayo Santiago, home to a unique free-ranging population of rhesus monkeys and the researchers charged with their care, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria

President Donald Trump has long talked about reinvigorating American manufacturing, which has suffered heavy job losses as a result of automation, trade deals and other factors. In July, the Trump administration even celebrated “made in America” week by showcasing things built in the U.S. and hosting dozens of manufacturers at the White House.

To me, an engineer who studies the future of manufacturing, this focus on what the U.S. made yesterday will only go so far in saving American manufacturing. The U.S. needs to figure out what the country should make tomorrow — and invest heavily in it. Whether we do depends on our willingness to embrace the fourth industrial revolution, a new era that is beginning and is destined to be just as pivotal as the previous three.

The Department of Geology and the RENEW Institute will welcome a new hire in January: Kristin Poinar, a NASA climate scientist whose study on giant cracks in the Greenland Ice Sheet made headlines worldwide in early 2017.

For many people who have a disability, taking public transportation is a necessity. But it can also be a nightmare. The barriers abound. It can be extremely difficult to get up and down the stairs on the bus. Riders who use a wheelchair often feel undue attention drawn upon them as passengers sit and wait impatiently while the bus operator secures the wheelchair in place.

“As a society, we throw a lot of things away without giving a second thought.

“But just because something leaves our presence doesn’t mean it’s actually gone … it’s just somewhere else now,” says UB staff member Jackie Hausler.

Furniture is one obvious example, says Hausler, director of communications and alumni engagement in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, and a Buffalo-based lifestyle and DIY blogger.

A UB graduate who said the university changed his life has given $4 million to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

Stephen Still graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1976, then earned master’s and doctoral degrees at Princeton University. While he says his passion has always been in transportation planning, he spent most of his career in the aviation industry.

As the Earth’s climate changes, shifting weather patterns will affect where plants and animals can live. Some species — such as polar bears, frogs and even bumblebees — may see habitats shrink. Others may be forced to relocate to new environs.

UB launched its 2017 Campaign for the Community with a Hollywood theme, as campus liaisons, administrators and members of United Way agencies gathered yesterday morning in the Center for the Arts Mainstage theater to hear how UB employees make an impact on the Western New York community through their generosity.

Scientists have used satellite data to monitor underground water reserves in California’s Silicon Valley, discovering that water levels rebounded quickly after a severe drought that lasted from 2012-15. The research points to the success of aggressive conservation measures. It also helps to lay the groundwork for low-cost monitoring of subterranean water reserves in California and elsewhere in the world.

A new Environmental Law LL.M. program offers law students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge in environmental law and policy through traditional classroom study, experiential learning opportunities, and one-on-one academic advising

UB’s nationally recognized GRoW Home is getting closer to being ready to meet its new neighbors. A team of students is hard at work putting the finishing touches on the 1,100-square-foot, ultra-efficient solar dwelling, which is being temporarily sited behind Hayes Hall on the South Campus.

This summer’s course, titled “Community Development in Context: Social Innovation in the Mara Region of Tanzania,” explored ideas and strategies for enabling social change through the medium of marketing. To prepare for the trip, students read up on the government, resources and culture of Tanzania while also getting an education in basic marketing from Debbie Grossman of the UB School of Management, who accompanied the students on the trip.

To bring some immediacy to the event, Bramen says the title of the symposium references “Nevertheless, she persisted” — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s explanation for using a little-know Senate rule to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren while she was delivering a speech last winter criticizing then-attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. But, Bramen points out, the idea of women persisting has a much longer history.

We all expect hospitals to be open and operating when we need them, but extreme weather events like hurricanes are a strain on resources and pose significant challenges for hospitals. Closing a hospital is an extreme action, but several hospitals in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina did just that before the arrival of Hurricane Irma.

Members of the UB community can learn how to lead a “greener” lifestyle at the ninth annual Sustainable Living Fair on Sept. 27.

The free fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Student Union, North Campus. It is co-sponsored by the Professional Staff Senate’s Sustainable Living Committee, Campus Life, Parking and Transportation, United University Professions and Campus Dining and Shops.

The Buffalo-based Girls Education Collaborative (GEC) has a message for Western New Yorkers: Malala Yousafzai, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is helping girls achieve their potential every day. And so can you.

What if someone designed a computer program that could predict, with astonishing accuracy, when a machine would fail and how it would happen? Businesses could act to make repairs before things break, saving lots of money by extending the lives of their machines.

That is precisely what Sentient Science has done, and the company’s future looks very bright.

UB moved up five spots on Sierra Club magazine’s “Cool Schools” ranking for 2017. The university landed at No. 52, up from 57 last fall, on the environmental group’s annual list of schools that are ahead of the curve when it comes to sustainability.

Bill McKibben, author of the groundbreaking book “The End of Nature,” which helped establish him as a leading voice on the global threat of climate change, will be the keynote speaker for the Buffalo Humanities Festival, being held Sept. 28-30 at various locations in Western New York.

A cellphone and a few seconds of time.

That’s all residents of northern Michigan need to take part in a new project designed to improve management and conservation of a vital natural resource: fresh water.