Science and Technology

Using positron emission tomography (PET) scanning rather than other types of imaging as the first tool to diagnose heart-vessel blockages is more accurate, less invasive and saves dollars, a study by University at Buffalo researchers has shown.

A fund of nearly $2 million established as the result of a bequest by a former research engineer at Calspan-General Dynamics Corp. will support research at the University at Buffalo under a new Innovative Research on Sensors, Instrumentation and Devices Program.

The project called for the design of a 24,000 square-foot day-care center for patients with Alzheimer's disease and a 120-unit housing complex for the frail elderly. Architect Kenneth MacKay coupled his knowledge of the psychological, aesthetic and emotional effects of natural light with the special requirements of facilities that serve the elderly, their hands-on staff and the clients they serve. The result is the Total Aging in Place Project (TAIPP) for the Weinberg Campus.

The Cutting Edge Lecture Series, a series of free Saturday-morning seminars in which top University at Buffalo scholars in the arts and sciences give presentations aimed at increasing public awareness of rapidly advancing fields, will open its 2005 edition on March 5 with a lecture on the Human Genome Project by an internationally known UB philosopher.

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.