This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: Aug. 11, 2011

  • Swimmers qualify for Olympic Trials

    Five UB swimmers have qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

    Two Bulls—backstroker Phil Aronica and freestyler Matt Hogan—qualified with their performances at this past weekend’s U.S. Nationals in Palo Alto, Calif.

    Aronica, who just finished his freshman year at UB, qualified for the trials in the 100m backstroke with a time of 57.53.

    In his first season with the Bulls, Aronica set school records in the 100 backstroke, and as a member of record-setting teams in the 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay.

    Hogan, a junior, qualified in the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.94, beating the cut of 51.49.

    This past season, Hogan helped set school records in the 200 freestyle, the 200 individual medley, the 200 medley relay, the 400 medley relay, the 400 freestyle relay and the 800 freestyle relay.

    UB won its first-ever MAC Championship this past March.

    Backstroker Alie Schirmers became the first UB woman to qualify for the trials with her time of 2:35.63 in the 200m backstroke at the Eastern Zone Speedo Sectional Meet held last weekend at the University of Pittsburgh. Schirmers, a senior, holds the UB school record in the 200 backstroke and is also part of the school record-setting 800 freestyle relay team.

    Aronica, Hogan and Schirmers join teammates Matt Schwippert, a junior, and sophomore Mike Dugan, who both qualified for the Olympic Trials last year—Dugan in the 100 butterfly and Schwippert in the 100m and 200m backstrokes.

  • BEAM receives $60,000 grant

    Buffalo-area Engineering Awareness for Minorities (BEAM), UB’s program dedicated to increasing minorities and females entering the engineering and technical professions, has received $60,000 from American Water Enterprises Inc.

    The $60,000 from American Water Enterprises is the largest single donation BEAM has ever received. It will help fund field trips for the students to places like the Darwin Martin House, the New York Power Authority and Cannon Design.

    The donation also will cover the cost of educational kits for the students, which teach students about technology used hydropower, solar cars and rockets.

    During this year’s BEAM summer program, 18 students from high schools across Western New York are conducting mini-research projects focusing on seven of the National Engineering Academies’ Grand Engineering Challenges: making solar energy economical, developing carbon sequestration methods, advancing health informatics, reverse-engineering the brain, preventing nuclear terror, advancing personalized learning and engineering the tools for scientific discovery.

    The students give oral presentations and write reports at the end of the five-week summer program. They also are enrolled in pre-calculus and introduction to computing and engineering courses.

    BEAM has prepared inner-city, minority, female and other under-represented students for careers in science, engineering and technology since 1982. The program was created by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Linde-Union Carbide (now Praxair Inc.), Omega Phi Psi Fraternity and the Buffalo Public Schools.

  • Flags at half-mast to honor soldiers

    Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has directed that flags on state government buildings—including those at UB—be flown at half-mast on Aug. 12 and Aug. 17 in honor of six Fort Drum soldiers who died in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, earlier this month.

    Army Spc. Mark J. Downer will be honored on Aug. 12. He died on Aug. 5 of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with a rocket propelled grenade. He was from Warner Robins, Ga.

    Flags will be at half-mast on Aug. 17 in honor of five soldiers who died on Aug. 11.

    Army Sgt. Edward J. Frank II of Yonkers; Army Spc. Jameel T. Freeman of Baltimore, Md.; Army Spc. Patrick L. Lay II of Fletcher, N.C.; Army Pfc. Rueben J. Lopez of Williams, Calif.; and Army Spc. Jordan M. Morris of Stillwater, Okla., died of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle.

    All six soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

    Cuomo has ordered that flags on all state buildings be lowered to half-mast in honor of and tribute to New York service members who are killed in action or die in a combat zone.