UB in the News

A St. Petersburg Times article reporting that California is spending $1 billion a year to reduce class sizes, but only in kindergarten through third grade, quoted UB education professor Jeremy Finn, who has studied the issue for the U.S. Department of Education.

An article in The New York Times references a Wired magazine article that discusses the work of Michael S. Holden, who heads the Calspan-University of Buffalo Research Center, on how to reduce drag on skiers, speed skaters and the athletes competing in sledding events.

An article in the Chicago Tribune on the likelihood that Delphi Corp. today will seek bankruptcy court approval to drop its union contracts quotes Sam Tiras, assistant professor of accounting and law, who said "There is no way the workers are going to take an unskilled worker's wage, and no way that Delphi can afford to pay them what they make now.... I don't see how in the long run Delphi can survive if the workers hate the company."

An article on Slate looks at Peter Benchley's novel, "Jaws," and quotes Stefan Fleischer, associate professor of English, who teaches a course on the novel and says "People who are sexual outside of marriage get punished. And if it's society as a whole that has loose morals, it'll get eaten up by a shark."

An Associated Press article on e-books and the slowness with which they are catching on quotes Lewis Mandell, professor of finance and managerial economics, who writes and publishes his own e-textbook and says that because "The investment world is changing on a weekly basis. Tax rates change every year," he's able to update his finance books more frequently.

An article in Newsday looks at the Women's Health Initiative study of the impact of calcium and vitamin D supplements on bone strength and colorectal cancer and quotes Jean Wactawski-Wende, associate professor of social and preventive medicine, who said "Colorectal cancer takes 10 to 20 years to develop. Seven years of supplementation and follow-up may not be enough time to show a benefit."

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education looks at changes in the responsibilities of Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education, whose job when he joined UB in 1989 was to make sure that international students were adjusting to life in the U.S. and doing well academically, but now also includes developing overseas degree programs for foreign students who cannot -- or will not -- come to the United States to study. The article looks at his work in the context of the growing number of colleges nationally that are opening degree programs overseas, both for academic and business reasons.

An article on ABC News reports on Michael Holden's work in the Calspan-UB Research Center wind tunnel to help Olympic skiers reduce their wind resistance. He says "Winning is winning. All of the things add together. You'd be crazy not to take advantage of every aspect of how to win psychologically, physically, equipment-wise."

An article on Voice of America on foreign entities that are using lobbying in an effort to affect U.S. policy quotes Michael Rozeff, professor of financial planning and control, who says "The amount or extent of lobbying depends on the favors and the subsidies and the taxes and the regulations that the U.S. government can pass. And the bigger the government has got and the more activities it's gotten engaged in, the more the lobbying has done."

A front page article in today's issue of The New York Times on new warnings that stimulants like Ritalin could have dangerous effects on the heart quotes William Pelham, UB Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, who said that a black-box warning could prompt families to explore behavioral treatments as an alternative to drugs, which "would be a very good outcome for kids with ADHD and their families."