Environment and Sustainability

A project led by a University at Buffalo geologist involving the topographic mapper being flown by the space shuttle Endeavour could help to develop a new and far more accurate way to map features of shorelines and aid scientists in determining past and future volcanic and seismic activity in an area.

Jo Freudenheim, Ph.D., professor of social and preventive medicine at the University at Buffalo, is leading a project that will map the early-childhood residences of a group of women, the proximity of their homes to sites that may have been environmentally hazardous, and compare this data to the women with and without breast cancer to see if there is an association.

It won't be apparent to passengers landing on today's (Thursday, Jan. 6) inaugural flight at Istanbul's brand new international airport, but the roof of the massive terminal building features a unique approach to seismically modernizing the structure following last summer's devastating quake.

Just because a volcano isn't erupting doesn't mean it poses no danger. In papers being presented today (Tuesday, Dec. 14) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, University at Buffalo volcanologists show how, in some cases, soft spots on volcanoes that simply collapse from the side may trigger mudflows that potentially can be more devastating than eruptions.

For the University at Buffalo Department of Geology, "hands-on" in a lab apparently isn't hands-on enough. That's why excavators are drilling four, 50-foot wells on the North (Amherst) Campus so that students can learn about hydrogeology -- the study of how water and other liquids, such as pollutants, move through the shallow subsurface -- up close and personal.

Some might say Walter Simpson has a "bah, humbug!" attitude toward the holiday season. But the University at Buffalo energy officer and environmental activist says the holidays just are not happy anymore because they have become a time "scarred by hypocrisy and commercialism" and bring the year's most unecological and earth-destructive practices.

Members of the UB Green Office in University Facilities at the University at Buffalo have kicked off a "think green" campaign to urge members of the university community to save energy, recycle and reduce waste.

Mention the nation's most damaging natural disasters and most people probably think of earthquakes and floods. Wind probably isn't even on the list. But it should be, according to Michael Gaus, Ph.D., University at Buffalo professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering and president of the American Association of Wind Engineering, since the most vulnerable structures are low-rise buildings, such as residences.

The complicated process of revitalizing Western New York's many brownfields could be enhanced and accelerated significantly through the formation of a new, nonprofit organization designed to facilitate such projects, according to a report by a new University at Buffalo group, the Brownfield Action Project (BAP).

The University at Buffalo School of Nursing is one of five nursing schools conducting the first national, large-scale study of quality-of-life issues affecting women with lung cancer.