Science and Technology

"The most critical problems related to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina are related less to the lack of technological solutions than to the absence of a sound national policy for dealing with such events," says Shahin Vassigh, associate professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo.

The hundreds of thousands of refugees from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina join 25 million people worldwide displaced by environmental catastrophes, events and processes, according to Lynda Schneekloth, professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo.

Efforts to remove floodwaters from New Orleans should focus on flood bypass, strategic pumping and channel improvement, according to Christina Tsai, Ph.D., an expert on open-channel hydraulics and water-resources engineering at the University at Buffalo.

The wisdom of attempting to resettle the Gulf region "is highly questionable," according to Alfred Price, associate professor and interim chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo.

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.

The University at Buffalo will host the 2005-06 Western New York Science and Technology Forum, a weekly lecture series for local science teachers.

A $3 million Department of Defense appropriation to Buffalo BioBlower Technologies LLC, a spin-off of the University at Buffalo, announced today by Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, will allow the new company to begin commercializing its powerful air sterilization device.

The University at Buffalo's Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth has launched a new Web site for its "State of the Region" that will incorporate updates on the project's performance indicators and data as they become available.

Kathryn A. Foster, Ph.D., who served as director of research for the University at Buffalo's Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth for six years, has been named director of the institute effective Sept. 1.