Social Sciences

In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, University at Buffalo geography students are participating in a global effort to enhance the international response and recovery effort by helping to assess damage, using images hosted by Google Earth and the Virtual Disaster Viewer, which shares imagery of disasters from various sources.

The University at Buffalo will name its newest and most innovative residence hall after William R. Greiner, who devoted 42 years of service to the institution as president, provost and longtime Law School faculty member

Brian Carter announced today that he will step down as dean of the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning after more than seven years in the post. He will devote more time to design research and practice as a member of the school's faculty.

As details continue to unfold, medical, cultural and communication experts at the University at Buffalo are available to discuss the catastrophic earthquake that devastated Haiti last week.

University at Buffalo faculty -- including earthquake engineering, disaster, trauma and communication experts -- are available to discuss the tragic earthquake in Haiti. A listing of the experts and their commentary is available at http://newstips.buffalo.edu.

Parents are acutely aware of the influence of friends on their children's behavior -- how they dress, how they wear their hair, whether they drink or smoke. A new laboratory-based study has shown that friends also may influence how much adolescents eat.

The effective use of multiple layers of intelligence gathering, including existing behavioral identification programs, could have excluded the murderous Farouk Abdul Mutallab from travel before he got anywhere near Northwest Flight 253.

Caffeine is a stimulant drug, although legal, and adults use it widely to perk themselves up: Being "addicted" to caffeine is considered perfectly normal. But how strong is caffeine's appeal in young people who consume an abundance of soft drinks? What impact does acute and chronic caffeine consumption have on their blood pressure, heart rate and hand tremor? Furthermore, does consuming caffeinated drinks during adolescence contribute to later use of legal or illicit drugs?

Kid Corridor zones, student safety education and detailed maps of safe walking and bicycling routes are among the recommendations made by University at Buffalo graduate students in the Department of Urban and Regional planning to encourage students in the Williamsville Central School District (WCSD) to get out of cars and off buses and ride and walk to school instead.

University at Buffalo sociologist Sampson Blair says Tiger Woods' alleged rampant infidelities don't affect the status of marriage and the family because his lifestyle and wealth are regarded by most Americans as an exception to the rule, and his behavior is seen as attached to the lifestyle.