Social Sciences

A behavioral neuroscientist at the University at Buffalo holds that the ingestion of afterbirth by a mother, a feature of pregnancy in nearly all non-human mammals, not only relieves postpartum pain, but optimizes the onset of maternal behavior by mediating the activity of specific opioid activity circuits in the brain.

The world-renowned statue Hermes with the Infant Dionysos has been equipped with innovative seismic protective devices that will help the 7-foot-high marble statue of the Greek god withstand powerful earthquakes. The protective devices were custom made for the statue based on analysis and tests conducted at the University at Buffalo's earthquake engineering laboratory.

Shahin Vassigh, an architect and structural engineer on the faculty of the University at Buffalo, has received international recognition over the past two years for her revolutionary approach to teaching structural analysis and building technology to architectural students.

"Corners," an exhibit showcasing "architectural scrapbooks" constructed by first-year students in the Department of Architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, is on display in the Dyett Gallery in Hayes Hall on the UB South (Main Street) Campus.

Mehrdad Hadighi, associate professor of architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, who has received repeated notice over the past several years as one of the world's up-and-coming young architects, has been named chair of the school's Department of Architecture.

The influx of foreign aid to areas hardest hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami presents an opportunity for the region to address long-standing economic inequities, according to Jessie P.H. Poon, Ph.D., associate professor of geography at the University at Buffalo.

Two University at Buffalo faculty members who have spent years researching a concept called contextual vocabulary acquisition, in which readers use clues to figure out meanings of unfamiliar words, plan to turn their findings into a curriculum designed to improve reading skills for students nationwide.

The Internet, mobile technologies and new-media technologies may be the most influential drivers of cultural change in American society today, according to University at Buffalo faculty members offering courses this semester exploring the social and cultural consequences of information and communication technologies.

David M. Mark of Amherst, professor of geography in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences and director of the UB site of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA), has been named "Researcher of the Year" by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).

A study looking at the prevalence of sexual assault among 1,014 women between 18 and 30 found that 38 percent had experienced sexual victimization and nearly half of that group had been raped, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.