Natural Disasters

A University at Buffalo theoretical physicist who published research in 2001 demonstrating that it someday may be possible to build bridges, buildings and other structures that are nearly blast-proof, now has published results based on computer simulations showing how a shock-absorption system might be constructed to accomplish that goal.

For 15 seconds of historic testing, a two-story, wood-frame townhouse built in a laboratory at the University at Buffalo and similar to those found in southern California was shaken violently today by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake like the Northridge quake that struck the Los Angeles area in 1994.

The seismic tests that are conducted regularly inside the cavernous state-of-the-art Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory (SEESL) in Ketter Hall on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus generally are viewed by a select few: the structural engineers, technicians and students who are integral to UB's world-renowned program in earthquake engineering. But on Nov. 14, it will be standing room only throughout the viewing areas in the vast, 25,000-square-foot space.

Researchers at CUBRC and the University at Buffalo's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences are developing radically new drugs designed to cure viruses ranging from the deadly Ebola virus to the common cold, thanks to a major $8.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

As electric power this week returned to the last of the homes and businesses in Western New York affected by the devastating October snowstorm, researchers at the University at Buffalo were discussing how tiny, nanoscale sensors could make power systems far more resilient.

University at Buffalo researchers and their collaborators at other institutions have been awarded a four-year, $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant, under the NSF Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT) initiative, to develop semiconductor-based terahertz detectors that can be integrated seamlessly with conventional electronics. The grant is one of only 10 that the NSF has funded from more than 400 applications received.

When an explosion, accidental cremation or a fire set deliberately to cover a crime destroys a body, precious little may remain to link it to a life once lived. Yet even among the ashes, a team of forensic dental researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown that evidence exists that can help identify human remains when all else -- flesh, bones, teeth, DNA -- is lost.

Just weeks after the University at Buffalo and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute successfully conducted the first tests of seismic dampers for residential applications, the firm that manufactures the dampers, Taylor Devices, has made its first sale of the protective devices for a residence.

While it might be very difficult to detect benign chemicals that could make an explosive when mixed together, it is not nearly as difficult to detect traces of potentially dangerous chemicals on the fingers of individuals who recently have been in contact with them. At the University at Buffalo, researchers have proposed development of a biometric sensor that could detect such traces on the fingers of airline passengers.

Timothy J. Klein of Williamsville, B.S. '84, has been named 2006 Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Alumni Association at the University at Buffalo in recognition of his success as president, CEO and co-founder of ATTO Technology Inc., an Amherst-based computer electronics company.