Lund named chair of Department of Chemical Engineering
Carl Lund, professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been named chair of the department.

Lund conducts research in catalysis, kinetics, catalytic materials, catalytic reaction engineering and membrane reactors.

A faculty member since 1986, he is a recipient of the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award. He received the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and was named a Lilly Teaching Fellow by the UB Office of Teaching Effectiveness.

His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as by other public and private-sector sources.

Lundgren honored for diving research
Internationally known physiologist Claes E. Lundgren has received the 1997 Albert Behnke, Jr. Award for research on diving physiology from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

The organization's highest award is given for a single accomplishment or continued outstanding contributions to undersea research or hyperbaric medicine. Lundgren's research has advanced understanding of respiratory mechanics related to breath-hold diving, breathing with diving equipment and the design and development of improved underwater breathing equipment.

A professor of physiology and a faculty member since 1974, he also is director of the Center for Research and Education in Special Environments in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Lundgren pioneered the development of Nicorette gum, used to help smokers kick the habit. He will be honored for his development of Nicorette at D'Youville College's Health Care Awards Dinner on Jan. 28.

Spring Fitness Fair scheduled for Feb. 20
The Spring Faculty/Staff Fitness Fair-part of the UB Fit Faculty/Staff Wellness Program-is scheduled for Feb. 20 from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in the Gymnastics Room, 175 Alumni Arena. Appointments will be scheduled at 15-minute intervals. Registration forms can be completed and fees paid in 130 Alumni Arena. Cost of the program is $25. Call Recreation and Intramural Services at 645-2286 for more information or to register.

Bell named Martin chair in Mathematics Department
Jonathan G. Bell, professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics, has been appointed the Martin Professor of Mathematics for a three-year term.

Bell conducts research at the interface of mathematics and biology, developing mathematical models of biological mechanisms. A faculty member since 1981, he was named department chair earlier this year and was associate chair from 1985-87. Previously, he was an assistant professor at Texas A & M University. He received his doctorate in applied mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles.

ACE/NIP Breakfast Seminar set for Feb. 6
"Understanding First-Generation Women College Students" is the topic of the February ACE/NIP Breakfast Seminar to be held at 8 a.m. Feb. 6 in the Student Center Faculty Dining Room at Canisius College.

Guest speaker is Terri L. Mangione, associate dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Canisius College. Mangione will talk about what it is like to be a first generation woman student in a private, historically male, comprehensive college.

Registration fee is $10. Participants must register by Jan. 30 with Marian Meyer at Canisius College, 2001 Main Street, Buffalo, N.Y. 14208, and include their name, institution, telephone number and number attending if more than one registration per check. Free parking is available in Eastwood Lot. For more information, call Kim A. Pachetti, 645-2181 ext. 537.

"UB at Sunrise" to focus on drug resistance in bacteria
Have humans lost the war against infectious bacteria?

A question that medical experts have been asking, with reports of growing incidence of drug resistance among bacteria, it will be the focus of a "UB at Sunrise" program to be held from 7:30-9 a.m. Feb. 10 in the Center for Tomorrow on the North Campus.

Charles Ballow, clinical associate professor of pharmacy who is director of anti-infectives research at Millard Fillmore Hospitals, will speak.

Ballow recently told an international medical meeting that based on a study conducted by researchers at UB, Millard Fillmore and the University of Iowa College of Medicine, the problem of growing drug resistance in bacteria can be compared with "a rocket ship."

He predicted that by the year 2000, half of the infections caused by the bacterium responsible for 7 million cases of otitis media in children and 500,000 cases of pneumonia in children and adults each year in the U.S. will have some resistance to penicillin.

"UB at Sunrise" is a series of breakfast programs jointly produced by the Alumni Association, Office of Conferences and Special Events, News Services and Office of Publications, all at UB. It also is supported by the Office of University Development and Office of Public Service and Urban Affairs.

The price of the program, which includes a full breakfast, is $10 for members of the UB Alumni Association and $12 for all others.

For more information, contact the alumni association at 829-2608. Ticket orders must be received by Feb. 9.

Child prodigy and family to appear with Slee Sinfonietta
The Department of Music kicks off a new year and the spring semester with a concert on Wednesday featuring the Slee Sinfonietta conducted by Magnus Martensson, with the Weilerstein Trio as special guests. Proceeds from the concert, to be held at 8 p.m. in Slee Concert Hall on the North Campus, will benefit the music department's performance and academic programs.

The Weilerstein Trio includes 15-year-old cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who began playing the cello at age 4-1/2 and gave her first public concert six months later. In 1995, at age 13, she had her debut with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Donald Weilerstein, founding member and former first violinist of the acclaimed Cleveland String Quartet, was on the faculty of UB while the quartet was in residence here during the early 1970s. His wife, pianist Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, was a student of Stephen Manes at UB. Both are now on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Tickets are $15, general; $12, faculty/staff/alumni; $6, students. They are available at the Slee Hall box office, the Center for the Arts box office or at TicketMaster locations. For more information, call 645-2921.

New detection method for land mines is subject of talk
There are approximately 110 million land mines buried in 68 countries around the world, many of which are plastic and, therefore, not detectable by current technologies.

But an accurate and inexpensive detection method effective for land mines in either plastic or metal casings may be on the horizon as the result of research conducted by Surajit Sen, assistant professor of physics, and his colleagues at UB.

Their research will be the subject of a talk to be given by Sen at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Room 225 of the Natural Sciences Building on the North Campus. Sponsored by the Sciences Alumni Association of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the talk will be free and open to the public.

The research, which will be published in a scientific journal next month, indicates that weak shock waves sent into granular beds, like soil, will cause acoustic signals containing critical information to be reflected off buried objects, such as land mines.

For more information, contact Cindy Nydahl at 645-2531.

Historians contribute entries to encyclopedia on Japan
Is Japan likely to develop nuclear weaponry after the year 2000? What role does the government play in present-day Japanese education? How does Japan manage its unskilled foreign labor force?

Two UB scholars of East Asian history-David Abosch, recently retired associate professor of history, and Tom Burkman, director of Asian studies and adjunct associate professor of history-address such issues in a new reference publication, "Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture and Nationalism" (Garland 1998).

Abosch, an expert on modern Japan, published an entry on Kato Hiroyuki, the Japanese educator and author who gave direction to the newly established system of higher education during the first three decades of the Meiji era.

Burkman published four entries: Kagawa Toyohiko, a Japanese Christian evangelist and social reformer; Japan's connection with the League of Nations; Japanese nationalism in World War I, and the Allied occupation of Japan following Japan's surrender in World War II.

James Huffman, editor of the encyclopedia and associate professor of history at Wittenberg University, will give a lecture in February at UB titled "Sensationalism and Nationalism: Lessons from the Meiji Press." The lecture, part of the history department's Colloquia Series, is being co-sponsored by the history department and the Asian Studies Program.

Xerox gift to benefit MBA program
The Xerox Foundation has presented a gift of $25,000 to the School of Management for the creation of an innovative education and training program.

The $25,000 will fund the Xerox Partnership for Recruiting Excellence, a program that will attract gifted students to UB's MBA program and position them for jobs at Xerox following graduation.

The gift is aligned with the goals of a five-year memorandum of understanding creating a partnership between UB and The Document Company, Xerox. Under the partnership, the two collaborate in areas including research, information technology, and education and training.

The gift brings Xerox's giving to UB during the past year to more than $122,000.

During the past five years, the company and foundation have provided nearly $211,000 in gifts and services to departments and programs throughout the university. Xerox also is one of nine national companies participating in the School of Management's "Adopt-a-Course" program. Company executives give classroom and on-site presentations about the translation of classroom theory into everyday business realities

Metzger winner of Kahn Poetry Prize
Erika A. Metzger, professor emeritus, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, has won the prestigious Robert L. Kahn Poetry Prize (1997) awarded by the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German. She has donated the prize award to the Dr. Gustav Loeffler Fellowship Fund, which supports teaching assistantships for doctoral candidates in UB's graduate program in German.