Science and Technology

The development of geographic information science tools to help rangers and forest scientists determine whether logging or prescribed burning is the best way to reduce the fuel load to mitigate the risk of devastating wildfires is the goal of software-development work being done in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service by Chris S. Renschler, Ph.D., of the University at Buffalo.

As part of an effort to anticipate -- and thwart -- the plans of potential terrorists, the Federal Aviation Administration is supporting the development of a new search engine by University at Buffalo researchers that is designed to detect "hidden" information that can be gleaned from public Web sites.

A University at Buffalo assistant professor is conducting fundamental studies on nanomaterials that may in the future boost detection of important biomolecules for medical or homeland security applications, thanks to a $200,000 James D. Watson Investigator grant from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR).

When University at Buffalo theorist Surajit Sen published his prediction that solitary waves, tight bundles of energy that travel without dispersing, could break into smaller, "baby" or secondary solitary waves, experts in the field acclaimed it as a fine piece of work. They also felt that these waves might never be seen experimentally. But in a paper published this week in Physical Review Letters, Sen and his co-authors report that they have done just that.

A new version of a reliable and well-regarded dimensional test for personality disorders developed by a University at Buffalo researcher and clinician may lead to clearer diagnosis of personality disorders and point toward more precise and specific treatment plans for the more than 31 million Americans affected by them.

The Houston-based architecture and interior design firm of Watkins Hamilton Ross (WHR) has announced that Shouvik Chakaborty, a Bombay native and graduate student in architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, has received the firm's prestigious 2005-06 Tradewell Fellowship in Medical Planning.

The University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) have entered into an agreement to allow top scholars from Vietnam to pursue graduate training in science and technology at UB starting this fall.

Paschalis Alexandridis, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the University at Buffalo's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has been awarded Greece's highest honor for young academics and scientists, the prestigious Bodossaki Foundation Academic Prize in Applied Science.

Alan Selman, Ph.D., professor of computer science and engineering in the University at Buffalo's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has been selected to receive a prestigious Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.

Many health-care industry bottlenecks can be eliminated, resulting in major improvements in efficiency, cost savings and patient care when hospitals borrow principles from production lines on the factory floor, according to researchers in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo.