Science and Technology

Kenneth M. Tramposch, a researcher with 20 years experience in the discovery, development and project management of new drugs, has been appointed associate vice president for research at the University at Buffalo, effective Sept. 4.

A biological scientist and ecologist at the University at Buffalo has received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine how man-made environmental changes affect the transmission of malaria in Africa.

After spending the past six years probing the physics of how a football travels during flight using computer simulations and the videotape of a single forward pass from a 1976 professional football game, a University at Buffalo researcher hopes this week to put into place the final piece of the puzzle for a never-before-quantified phenomenon in football: why a forward pass curves slightly to the left or right, based on the handedness of the passer.

The alarming shortage of engineers throughout the U.S. has spurred numerous proposals on teacher training, curriculum and special programs, all geared toward boosting the sagging interest of American schoolchildren in science and mathematics. But one of the most important factors in shaping children's interest in science and math -- the attitudes of their parents -- is rarely mentioned, according to an engineer at the University at Buffalo.

Electronic prescriptions -- not fingerprinting of patients at pharmacies as proposed by some policymakers -- could help cut a substantial amount of illicit use of medications like OxyContin, according to Karl D. Fiebelkorn, assistant dean for student affairs and professional relations in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The University at Buffalo School of Informatics has proposed a new and unusual master's-degree program in information and communication. The program, which will require the approval of the State University of New York and the State Education Department, was developed with input from an extensive survey in which public and private corporations, research facilities, libraries, industrial and business institutions across New York State were asked to identify employee competencies they will require to take full advantage of new information technologies and maintain a competitive edge in their fields.

In search of evidence that could help explain how certain species were created and how their genome has changed with evolution, a University at Buffalo evolutionary biologist and nine of his students enrolled in a new course on arctic molecular ecology are participating in a two-week research expedition to the arctic climes of Alaska.

MyUB, a personalized Web site linking University at Buffalo students to important information -- including academic and student services -- has earned the university designation as an IBM "Best Practice" partner.

Extremely hardy bacteria that contaminate computer-chip fabrication facilities and mean nothing but trouble for chip manufacturers have been reproduced under controlled conditions by University at Buffalo researchers, who believe they could be the basis for potentially powerful biophotonic materials.

Richard Krause, residency program director for the Department of Emergency Medicine in the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been named managing editor for the emergency medicine section of eMedicine, an online medical journal that provides textbook-quality articles on topics ranging from dermatology to sports medicine with one distinct advantage over the print variety: the information is truly current.