News Releases

Students will be welcomed back to the University at Buffalo campus this weekend with a variety of activities, including fairs, food, music and movies designed to get the academic year off to an enthusiastic start.

Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, James N. Jensen, PhD, University at Buffalo professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering, says that probably the biggest lesson learned from that disaster was that municipalities and citizens now take orders to evacuate much more seriously. Jensen was one of six UB researchers that visited the Gulf Coast soon after Katrina hit, as part of a National Science Foundation-funded reconnaissance mission organized by UB's Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research.

Today the University at Buffalo (UB) launched a new partnership with Zipcar Inc., providing the campus with access to the world's leading car-sharing service. The cost-effective and convenient transportation option is now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to all students, faculty and staff members, ages 18 and older. Zipcar is an environmentally friendly alternative that supports UB's Climate Action Plan and its efforts to improve campus sustainability. Every Zipcar takes 15 to 20 privately owned vehicles off the road.

This year's incoming University at Buffalo Master's of Social Work class will have a unique chance to imagine what it is like to live one month of poverty during the school's first-ever "poverty simulation" incorporated in the school's student orientation.

College freshmen nationwide are heading to campus armed with credit cards and ready to rack up debt. They know how to squeeze the trigger on purchases but often they don't have experience in handling the aftermath of debt. And many of them are making financial decisions for the first time.

In the first study of its kind, researchers have found compelling evidence that our best and worst experiences in life are likely to involve not individual accomplishments, but interaction with other people and the fulfillment of an urge for social connection.

The fourth season of UB on the Green, the University at Buffalo's free outdoor performance series, will open tonight with a performance by The Rockas with special guest Caitlin Albe Koch.

The University at Buffalo's online undergraduate catalog has been named as one of the best in the country by a respected Internet marketing company focused on higher education.

Human oral microbial biofilm is the plaque that dentists warn us about, and is composed of numerous genetically distinct types of bacteria that live on host surfaces. These biofilms are essential for oral bacteria to adapt and thrive and can cause oral infections. University at Buffalo researcher Chris (Chunhao) Li has been awarded a $1.6 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop processes, possibly leading to therapeutic compounds, which prevent biofilm formation of oral bacteria.

"Doorhanger" kits containing safety reminders and tips on how to be a good neighbor will be distributed to more than 2,700 homes surrounding the University at Buffalo's South Campus from 3-6 p.m. today (Tuesday, Aug. 24).