Social Sciences

Chris S. Renschler, Ph.D., associate professor of geography at the University at Buffalo has been awarded the 2007 Young Scholar Award from the Soil and Water Management and Conservation Division of the Soil Science Society of America.

The region's population is driving more and using public transit less compared to 2001, trends facilitated by relatively low congestion on roadways, the continued growth of a suburban-based service economy and changing household dynamics, according to the University at Buffalo Regional Institute's latest Policy Brief, "Getting There."

Police officers hold the second most stressful job (inner-city high school teacher is first), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This comes as no surprise to the University at Buffalo's John Violanti, a former member of the New York State Police and principal investigator on a pilot study of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in police officers.

Landscape architect Lynda Schneekloth, professor of architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, is delighted that "The Power Trail: History of Hydroelectricity at Niagara," which she wrote with three of her former students, has received the Merit Award of Achievement from the New York State Upstate Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

It was while researching the history of African-Americans in Oklahoma that Barbara Nevergold, Ph.D., of the University at Buffalo came across the name of Andrew J. Smitherman in the records of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.

The University at Buffalo Regional Institute has released the final report on tourism development in the Southtowns, culminating a two-year collaborative planning effort for the Towns of Brant, Eden, Evans and North Collins, and the Villages of Angola, Farnham and North Collins.

Results of a new study by sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ph.D., of the University at Buffalo and researchers at Brandeis University and Harvard University suggest that pediatric oncologists -- most of whom describe themselves as "spiritual" -- might help their young patients and their families more by learning ways to engage them on a spiritual basis.

Ibrahim M. Jammal, 77, associate professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Environmental Design and Planning in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, and a major force behind the study of globalization in the field of planning, died Nov. 13 after a long illness.

Despite warnings from experts and media campaigns marketing healthy living techniques, approximately one-third of women of childbearing age smoke cigarettes and 25-50 percent of women smoke during pregnancy. A research team at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) has responded to this problem with a new study focused on a smoking cessation program specifically for pregnant women.

The Regional Institute at the University at Buffalo has released the findings of its assessment of the Erie County criminal justice system, part of an effort to identify strategies to alleviate jail overcrowding in the county.