Social Sciences

Experts in the design of the bathroom, cybernetics in architecture and the spatial dimensions of aging will be among speakers at "Before and Beyond: Architecture and the User," a two-day symposium at the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning. The event, which features presenters from the U.S., Canada and Europe, is free and open to the public. Panels will take place on April 6 and 7 at 301 Crosby Hall on UB's South Campus. Directions and a complete schedule are online at http://tinyurl.com/beforeandbeyondUB.

Ezra Zubrow, PhD, of Amherst, an archaeologist of international renown whose recent research has taken him from India to Finland, and from Northern Quebec and Egypt to Kamchatka, has been elected a Fellow of the scholarly Society of Antiquaries of London, the world's premiere learned society for heritage.

In a new study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, University at Buffalo researcher Michael A. Stefanone, PhD, and colleagues found that females who base their self worth on their appearance tend to share more photos online and maintain larger networks on online social networking sites.

University at Buffalo Law School Professor Charles Patrick Ewing has added to his series of critically acclaimed books on some of the most unsavory but attention-grabbing aspects of the law, this time with a book questioning the legal logic and effectiveness of the country's increasingly harsh sex offense laws.

When a disaster's physical evidence is gone -- debris removed, shooter arrested, ashes cold -- the psychological effects of the disaster on emergency responders and civilians involved still may burn. Emergency mental health, a field often overlooked in the chaos, is a vital component of any disaster response, but may not be well represented in emergency preparedness planning.

Most Ponzi schemes, like almost everything else these days, enjoy a limited life in the public eye. Despite its explosive nature, the same would have been true of the Madoff con, except that nobody cooled Bernie's marks out.

As of Jan. 1, the first baby boomers turned 65. What can American society expect as boomers retire, age and continue to be active? How will this affect the stigma of growing old? As the birthday celebrations commence, University at Buffalo faculty experts are available to comment on tips and trends related to aging in America.

For years the tobacco industry has argued that efforts to ban tobacco advertising near schools would constitute a total ban on tobacco advertising in urban areas. But public health researchers at the University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute have presented research that shows this is not the case in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Pick a decade, any decade. From secretaries in miniskirts in the "Mad Men"-style '60s and Southwest Airlines' "hostesses" in hot pants in the "liberated" '70s, to the present-day surge of provocatively dressed young female service workers -- the ubiquitous "Hooter Girl," for example -- University at Buffalo Law Professor Dianne Avery has a name for it all: "The Great American Makeover: "The Sexing Up and Dumbing Down of Women's Work."

The University at Buffalo's School of Social Work has recorded its 100,000th download to its "Living Proof" podcast series, a milestone the school's dean calls "a sign UB's School of Social Work's entrance into cyberspace is here to stay."