UB in the News

An article in USA Today about the connotations of the word "suck" quotes David Fertig, associate professor of linguistics, who says "The word 'sucks' was an innocent word that developed a powerful and vulgar sexual connotation related to the taboo subject of fellatio."

An article in USA Today about how hurricanes Katrina and Rita have left thousands of displaced American at risk for mental disorders quotes Nancy Smyth, dean of the School of Social Work, who recently volunteered at a Texas shelter for hurricane victims, and says that Rita triggered flashbacks to Katrina in some and that disasters like the hurricanes can cause flashbacks to "older terrors" in some individuals.

An Associated Press article that appeared in scores of newspapers across the U.S., including The New York Times, on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's budget and the lack of federal money to prepare for disasters that have yet to occur, quotes Natalie Simpson, associate professor in the School of Management and an expert on emergency management

An article prepared by the Newhouse News Services and running in newspapers nationwide cites the work of the reconnaissance team from UB's Multidisciplinary Center of Earthquake Engineering Research that visited the devastated Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina to study damage to large structures as an example of how disaster data help scientists in their research.

Deborah D.L. Chung, Niagara Mohawk Professor of Materials Research and director of the Composite Materials Research Laboratory in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is quotes in an article being distributed nationally by UPI, on how the "smart concrete" invented by her would be a better alternative to strengthen levees and monitor their reliability.

An Associated Press story in Newsday reports on UB professors and students using "clickers" -- slender, handheld devices also known as "Audience Response Systems" that are used in television shows such as "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" -- in large classes to help the classes feel less impersonal and more effective for both students and professors.

An article on CBS MarketWatch on the need to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina that are universally accessible quotes Edward Steinfeld, professor of urban planning and design and director of UB's IDEA Center, who says the "current housing stock is woefully deficient in meeting the needs of people with mobility impairment."

An article in The New York Times on the National Endowment for Financial Education and its efforts to improve people's financial literacy quotes Lewis Mandell, professor of finance and managerial economics, who asks whether "just creating awareness and bringing people to a Web site is going to get very many people to modify their behavior in a significant manner. It just isn't easy for us to change our basic behavior patterns."

An article in the Los Angeles Times on a strike by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who are protesting Boeing because 60-70 percent of the company's next-generation 787 Dreamliner will be made overseas, quotes David Pritchard, research associate in the Canada-United State Trade Center within the Department of Geography, who says Boeing is sowing the seeds of its own destruction by sharing valuable technology with foreign governments intent on setting up their own aerospace industry.

An article in The New York Times on the growing number of companies that are defaulting employee pension plans quotes James A. Wooten, professor of law and a pension-law historian, who says that Congress knew it was creating an imperfect system when it established the pension corporation in 1974, and that it expected to make improvements later.