A reconnaissance team from University at Buffalo's Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) will travel next week to Gulfport, Biloxi and other areas of Mississippi devastated by Hurricane Katrina to determine the specific causes behind the failures of large engineered structures, primarily commercial buildings.
Widespread devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina reminds Americans who are used to localized disasters being dealt with adequately that the U.S. is susceptible to catastrophes in which the ability to respond is itself severely damaged, says Ernest Sternberg, Ph.D., University at Buffalo professor of urban and regional planning.
A large percentage of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and its catastrophic aftermath will suffer from Acute Stress Disorder, according to Nancy J. Smyth, Ph.D., LCSW, a University at Buffalo expert on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"Nasty social behavior" is very common following the first 48 hours of a disaster, according to University at Buffalo professor Charles Ebert, Ph.D., who teaches the course, "Disasters: analysis of natural and human-induced hazards."
Reports of widespread looting in New Orleans following the tragic flooding of the historic city sound less like actual criminal activity than desperation, according to a forensic psychologist at the University at Buffalo.
The UB Art Gallery will host a musical performance by the Open Music Ensemble on Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. The performance, Sound and Text, will feature the work of experimental composers with connections to Western New York.
The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Charlie Murphy & Friends at 8 p.m. on Sept 30 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. This performance is sponsored by the undergraduate Student Association.
The most ambitious exhibition of contemporary Chinese art to travel beyond China will be presented this fall by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the University at Buffalo Art Galleries after its debut in Beijing this summer at the Millennium Art Museum.
If you log on to eBay or murderauction.com these days, you will find a variety of "murderabilia" on sale for anywhere from $5 to $10,000. This might seem ghoulishly commercial, but it is just one manifestation of America's century-long obsession with serial killers. This compulsive preoccupation and its use in American culture is the subject of a new book by UB's David Schmid.
Amherst resident Meghan Fadel, a 2005 UB graduate and 2001 graduate of Amherst High School, has received a grant from the J. William Fulbright Foundation to teach English-as-a-second-language in Spain during the 2005-06 academic year.
