Sustainability

UB launched its 2017 Campaign for the Community with a Hollywood theme, as campus liaisons, administrators and members of United Way agencies gathered yesterday morning in the Center for the Arts Mainstage theater to hear how UB employees make an impact on the Western New York community through their generosity.

Scientists have used satellite data to monitor underground water reserves in California’s Silicon Valley, discovering that water levels rebounded quickly after a severe drought that lasted from 2012-15. The research points to the success of aggressive conservation measures. It also helps to lay the groundwork for low-cost monitoring of subterranean water reserves in California and elsewhere in the world.

UB’s nationally recognized GRoW Home is getting closer to being ready to meet its new neighbors. A team of students is hard at work putting the finishing touches on the 1,100-square-foot, ultra-efficient solar dwelling, which is being temporarily sited behind Hayes Hall on the South Campus.

A new Environmental Law LL.M. program offers law students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge in environmental law and policy through traditional classroom study, experiential learning opportunities, and one-on-one academic advising

As the Earth’s climate changes, shifting weather patterns will affect where plants and animals can live. Some species — such as polar bears, frogs and even bumblebees — may see habitats shrink. Others may be forced to relocate to new environs.

The Buffalo-based Girls Education Collaborative (GEC) has a message for Western New Yorkers: Malala Yousafzai, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is helping girls achieve their potential every day. And so can you.

Members of the UB community can learn how to lead a “greener” lifestyle at the ninth annual Sustainable Living Fair on Sept. 27.

The free fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Student Union, North Campus. It is co-sponsored by the Professional Staff Senate’s Sustainable Living Committee, Campus Life, Parking and Transportation, United University Professions and Campus Dining and Shops.

UB moved up five spots on Sierra Club magazine’s “Cool Schools” ranking for 2017. The university landed at No. 52, up from 57 last fall, on the environmental group’s annual list of schools that are ahead of the curve when it comes to sustainability.

What if someone designed a computer program that could predict, with astonishing accuracy, when a machine would fail and how it would happen? Businesses could act to make repairs before things break, saving lots of money by extending the lives of their machines.

That is precisely what Sentient Science has done, and the company’s future looks very bright.

A cellphone and a few seconds of time.

That’s all residents of northern Michigan need to take part in a new project designed to improve management and conservation of a vital natural resource: fresh water.

We all expect hospitals to be open and operating when we need them, but extreme weather events like hurricanes are a strain on resources and pose significant challenges for hospitals. Closing a hospital is an extreme action, but several hospitals in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina did just that before the arrival of Hurricane Irma.

Bill McKibben, author of the groundbreaking book “The End of Nature,” which helped establish him as a leading voice on the global threat of climate change, will be the keynote speaker for the Buffalo Humanities Festival, being held Sept. 28-30 at various locations in Western New York.

To bring some immediacy to the event, Bramen says the title of the symposium references “Nevertheless, she persisted” — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s explanation for using a little-know Senate rule to silence Sen. Elizabeth Warren while she was delivering a speech last winter criticizing then-attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. But, Bramen points out, the idea of women persisting has a much longer history.

How stable is the Greenland Ice Sheet?

Top climate scientists from around the world met in Buffalo this week to address this question at a workshop run by UB geologist Jason Briner.

This summer’s course, titled “Community Development in Context: Social Innovation in the Mara Region of Tanzania,” explored ideas and strategies for enabling social change through the medium of marketing. To prepare for the trip, students read up on the government, resources and culture of Tanzania while also getting an education in basic marketing from Debbie Grossman of the UB School of Management, who accompanied the students on the trip.

Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the NIEHS and NTP, has spent more than 35 years researching, evaluating and educating the public on risks associated with hazardous environmental exposures. UB’s Institute on Research and Education in Energy, Environment and Water (RENEW) welcomes Dr. Birnbaum from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on September 15th, when she will discuss the impacts of global environmental health and what it means for local families and communities. She will discuss 21st century environmental health challenges associated with extreme weather events, community health resiliency, economic impacts of climate change on health, and co-benefits for health of mitigation/adaptation efforts.

Human antidepressants are building up in the brains of bass, walleye and several other fish common to the Great Lakes region, scientists say.

In a new study, researchers detected high concentrations of these drugs and their metabolized remnants in the brain tissue of 10 fish species found in the Niagara River.

Bill McKibben, author of the groundbreaking book “The End of Nature,” which helped establish him as leading voice on the global threat of climate change, will be the keynote speaker for the Buffalo Humanities Festival, Sept. 28-30 at various locations in Western New York.

Imagine a thriving community built around manufacturing jobs where the production methods and processes not only minimize waste and mitigate negative environmental impacts, but also address health risks posed to residents and workers.

In May of this year, a hot spell broiled Boston. In June, extreme temperatures grounded Phoenix’s planes. Last week, Seattle suffered under record temperatures.

Health care reform has been the hottest topic. What to do about America’s aging infrastructure has been less animated but may be more pressing.

Faculty, staff and administrators from UB’s three campuses were among several thousand volunteers fanning out across the Buffalo area Wednesday, lending a hand to local not-for-profit organizations for the 2017 Day of Caring.

The people at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) realize that to continue thriving, they need to make sure there is an educational pathway local students can follow onto the campus. Teaching young people about the range of jobs on the campus is part of that mission, as is stimulating their interest in science, technology, engineering and math classes.

Even at age 64, Cristanne Miller still rides her bicycle to UB a few days a week. Miller’s affinity for the two-wheeled commute began at an early age — and out of necessity — in Des Moines, Iowa, where she grew up.

What happens when the students become the teachers? In a popular Buffalo Public Schools program led by the University at Buffalo, magic happened.

What happens when the students become the teachers? In a popular Buffalo Public Schools program led by the University at Buffalo, magic happened.

Power imbalances in heterosexual relationships are common, but having less power takes a greater toll on young women than young men, according to a recently published University at Buffalo study.

African-American women in abusive relationships use a variety of strategies pulled from three general categories to survive intimate partner violence (IPV), according to a new University at Buffalo study recently published in the journal Social Work.

Poorer and less-educated older Americans are more like to suffer from chronic pain than those with greater wealth and more education, but the disparity between the two groups is much greater than previously thought, climbing as high as 370 percent in some categories, according to new research by a University at Buffalo medical sociologist.

You’ve seen Bear Grylls turn foul water into drinking water with little more than sunlight and plastic.

Launched as part of an ongoing collaboration between the UB School of Management and UB School of Social Work, the Social Impact Fellows program pairs a management student with a social work student for an eight-week internship at a local organization, where they collaborate on ideas to tackle a social issue facing the community.

UB’s GRoW Home, a student-built solar home that traveled across the country to place atop the 2015 Solar Decathlon, is now being reassembled behind Hayes Hall.

Abby LaPlaca and Kayleigh Reed would be exceptional UB students even if they were not writing their own stories on the power of global scholarship.

The investigation into how air pollution emissions from the Tonawanda Coke plant may have affected nearby soil kicked into gear today with a gathering of elected officials, community organizers and scientists from UB and SUNY Fredonia.

The School of Law has developed a new graduate program in environmental law that is designed to prepare the next generation of global leaders in environmental scholarship, research and public policy.

Rising global temperatures are impacting not just peoples’ physiological health but also society’s health, according to “Heat Advisory: Protecting Health on a Warming Planet,” (MIT Press) a book by UB emeritus faculty member Alan Lockwood.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Grey’s Anatomy actor and activist Jesse Williams and award-winning actor and science communicator Alan Alda are among the speakers who will headline UB’s 2017-18 Distinguished Speakers Series.

Eight UB faculty members traveled to Costa Rica last month as part of the university’s first-ever Study Abroad Incubator, a program for faculty and staff interested in designing and leading new study abroad initiatives.

Traditionally, when a car breaks down the solution has been to fix it. Repair manuals, knowledgeable mechanics and auto parts stores make car repairs common, quick and relatively inexpensive. Even with modern computer-equipped vehicles, regular people have plenty they can do: change oil, change tires and many more advanced upgrades.

A small group of UB undergraduates committed to acquiring the knowledge and understanding necessary for discovering and developing new avenues of social change will travel to Eastern Africa on July 15 as part of an intensive, experiential, social innovation and marketing course in the United Republic of Tanzania.

Post-industrial cities in the United States and elsewhere are implementing brownfields to brightfields programs that help develop local economies, generate clean energy and manage pollution. Brownfields are former industrial sites or landfills with contaminated soil. These sites pose both environmental and social challenges, as contamination must be remediated prior to redevelopment. 

UB on the Green, UB’s free outdoor performance series, is back for an 11th season of music and activities celebrating summer in the South Campus neighborhood.

The family-friendly, alcohol-free events, presented by the Office of Community Relations, will take place from 6-8 p.m. July 19 and July 26 on the Hayes Hall lawn on the South Campus. Free parking is available in the NFTA Park and Ride and Townsend lots. Spectators are encouraged to bring a picnic meal, lawn chairs and blankets. Refreshments from food trucks will be available for sale.

Whether you drive, ride public transit, bike or walk, chances are you encounter transportation problems.

It could be a snow-slicked road, overcrowded subway platform or errant motorists paying more attention to their smartphones than to their surroundings.

Consequences from these situations can be severe. For example, Seattle-based INRIX and the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated that traffic congestion in 2013 led to $124 billion in losses in the United States. And hardly a day passes that you don’t hear about some tragic motor vehicle accident.

With today’s increasingly powerful electronics, tiny materials are a must as manufacturers seek to increase performance without adding bulk.

Smaller also is better for optoelectronic devices — like camera sensors or solar cells —which collect light and convert it to electrical energy. Think, for example, about reducing the size and weight of a series of solar panels, producing a higher-quality photo in low lighting conditions, or even transmitting data more quickly.

For UB staff member Krissy Costanzo, the LGBTQ experience “at times can feel like being part of an invisible minority group.”

In particular, “It can be tricky navigating the workplace when you are not ‘out’ professionally,” says Costanzo, director of resource management for the School of Public Health and Health Professions. “Having a visible group of LGBTQ employees on campus who could serve as mentors and role models would have really helped me starting out,” she says. “There was a need to develop this sense of community on campus, and I realized it was up to us to do it.”

A team led by a UB doctoral student took first place on April 12 in UB’s Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition (Panasci TEC) for a technology that generates hydrogen gas from water.

Increasing prolonged periods of severe hot and dry weather during the first summer after wildfires is inhibiting vegetation recovery and causing loss of plant diversity, according to a new international study on climate change.