Science and Technology

A virtual-reality drama by University at Buffalo researchers -- aimed at transforming the movie-going experience -- is driving the development of increasingly "self-aware" computational agents that are able to improvise responses to the spontaneous actions of human users.

The School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo will continue its Spring 2005 Lecture Series with talks by downtown redevelopment expert Lynn Salagyn and, on March 30, by Peter Dreier, a nationally recognized figure in the field of urban and community planning who is the school's 2005 Clarkson Chair in Planning.

Paul H. Reitan, professor emeritus in the Department of Geology in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, had been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

A team of engineers from the University at Buffalo's New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII) and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is applying its expertise in virtual prototyping and simulation to mattresses.

Philip Coppens, Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Professor and Henry M. Woodburn Chair of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry in the University at Buffalo's College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious Ewald Prize by the International Union of Crystallography.

The University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning will host a slide lecture by Einar Jarmund, founder and principle of one of Norway's finest architectural firms, Jarmund/Vigsnaes Architects, who will present a slide lecture on Feb. 16 as part of the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning's 2004-05 lecture series.

The highly sought-after quality methodology called Six Sigma is now available to University at Buffalo students in the Department of Industrial Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

An efficient new strategy for synthesizing a natural marine product, which shows promising anti-tuberculosis activity but cannot be efficiently synthesized using conventional chemistry, is being reported by University at Buffalo organic chemists online in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

A novel technology that can test cells in minutes for responses to any stimulus, including antibiotics, pathogens, toxins, radiation or chemotherapy, has been developed by scientists at the University at Buffalo.

John E. Van Benschoten, Ph.D., professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering at the University at Buffalo, has been named associate dean for undergraduate education in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.