Science and Technology

You think finding a place to park down here is hard. Try finding a place to land on Mars. That's what a group of leading planetary geologists tried to decide June 22-23 when they met at the University at Buffalo for the Mars Surveyor 2001 Landing Site Workshop.

What does Niagara Falls have in common with the planet Mars? Quite a lot, geologically speaking. In fact, on June 25-26, a group of leading planetary geologists will visit Buffalo and Niagara Falls to better understand the geology of Mars.

One aspect of the rich and complex history of human knowledge -- its recording, transmission and preservation -- has been altered irrevocably by the advancement of information technology. But the replacement of a libraries' millions of bound volumes by electronic versions is no more than a twinkle in the eye of someone who is not a librarian, University at Buffalo librarians say.

"Friends don't let friends -- or their spouses or children -- drive unbelted." That should be the theme of a public-education campaign aimed at increasing seatbelt use, according to an industrial engineer who recently completed a study on the subject while pursuing graduate work at the University at Buffalo.

In our collective exuberance over the astonishing explosion in the field of information technology during the past two decades, we may overlook something just as important -- the investigation of its meaning. This observation by the faculty and graduate students who comprise the University at Buffalo's Critical and Cultural Studies in Information Technologies group has led to the development of a new array of courses exploring the forces shaping technology and its uses that is among the first of its kind in the nation.

A Chemical Engineering Symposium in honor of Eli Ruckenstein, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Chemical Engineering and 1998 winner of the prestigious National Medal of Science, will be held June 18-19 at UB.

Ransom notes, like the one left behind in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, and other handwritten documents that provide clues to criminal cases may soon be easier to analyze, thanks to research being conducted by University at Buffalo computer scientists.

Truck-weighing stations on highways could become a thing of the past as a result of a new application for "smart concrete" developed by University at Buffalo engineers.

Jin-Yi Cai, Ph.D., a professor of computer science and engineering at the University at Buffalo, has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Imagine walking through an assembly plant that hasn't been built yet and moving around pieces of equipment that weigh several tons just by pointing and dragging your mouse. It's now possible with new, virtual-factory software that has been developed by University at Buffalo engineers.