Natural Disasters

Just weeks after the University at Buffalo and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute successfully conducted the first tests of seismic dampers for residential applications, the firm that manufactures the dampers, Taylor Devices, has made its first sale of the protective devices for a residence.

While it might be very difficult to detect benign chemicals that could make an explosive when mixed together, it is not nearly as difficult to detect traces of potentially dangerous chemicals on the fingers of individuals who recently have been in contact with them. At the University at Buffalo, researchers have proposed development of a biometric sensor that could detect such traces on the fingers of airline passengers.

Timothy J. Klein of Williamsville, B.S. '84, has been named 2006 Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Alumni Association at the University at Buffalo in recognition of his success as president, CEO and co-founder of ATTO Technology Inc., an Amherst-based computer electronics company.

To better reflect its mission of developing solutions to improve resilience against extreme events of all sorts, the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research headquartered at the University at Buffalo is shortening its name to MCEER.

A technology first used during the Cold War to isolate ballistic missile silos from vibrations will undergo its first test in a full-scale, wood-frame townhouse in the University at Buffalo's Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory to see if it would minimize earthquake damage to wood-frame homes.

When trying to lie your way through any situation, keep a tight rein on your zygo maticus major and your orbicularis oculi. They'll give you away faster than a snitch. So says a University at Buffalo social psychologist, whose revolutionary research on human facial expressions in situations of high stakes deception debunks myths that have permeated police and security training for decades.

University at Buffalo researchers are launching a series of unprecedented seismic tests on a full-scale, three-bedroom, wood-frame townhouse being built in an earthquake-simulation laboratory in the university's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In November, the structure will be put to a final test in a simulation of California's 1994 Northridge earthquake that is expected to create massive damage.

The University at Buffalo's Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) Information Service is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the devastating 1906 earthquake with a major exhibit, "A City in Ruins: The San Francisco Earthquake and Fires of 1906."

Buffalo is fast becoming a center for research, education and new practices in cybersecurity and computer forensics, according to the hosts of a workshop on these topics to be held March 31 in the Center for Tomorrow on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

Mudflows initiated by natural processes at old, inactive volcanoes are some of the most lethal geologic phenomena and they contributed to last week's tragic mudslide in Guinsaugon, Philippines, according to a University at Buffalo scientist whose team has developed advanced computer models of mudflows.