The tradeoff in fiberglass insulation products has always been between strength and safety: making glass fibers stronger by adding aluminum oxide to them also increases the risk that they will cause lung cancer when inhaled. But biomaterials and biophotonics researchers at the University at Buffalo recently reported on the surprising chemical mechanism behind one type of fiberglass fortified with aluminum oxide that does not persist in the lungs.

J.M. Coetzee, a faculty member in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo from 1968-71 and Butler Professor of English at UB in 1984 and 1986, has been named winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

University at Buffalo students interested in studying Asian civilizations and contemporary societies now can register for the new interdisciplinary bachelor's degree program in Asian studies.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present a performance by Lewis Black at 8 p.m. on Oct. 29 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. Sponsors for the event are the UB undergraduate Student Association and WBUF-FM.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Ailey II at 8 p.m. on Oct. 23 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The performance is sponsored by KeyBank. Media sponsors are WGRZ-TV and WJYE-FM.

Nationally known comedians Bobby Collins and Caroline Rhea, and the husband-and-wife magician team The Pendragons will be among the highlights of Homecoming/Family Weekend to be held at the University at Buffalo from Oct. 15-18.

The University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning and a consortium of commercial and community leaders are working to identify, analyze and ultimately help resolve issues of concern to Buffalo's University Heights neighborhood in which UB's South (Main Street) Campus is located.

The Region II Rehabilitation Continuing Education Program (RRCEP) in the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education has received a $2.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

The process by which architects are trained involves a complex mix of architectural history and philosophical concepts of space, time, place, analogy and "re-making" that is difficult to describe. Occasionally there is an opportunity to examine at one time and place just how an architect-in-training learns that process. The 10-week, three-course summer graduate seminar conducted in Barcelona, Spain, by the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning is one such opportunity.

The Asian Studies Program at the University at Buffalo will host this year's New York State Asian Studies Conference on Oct. 17-18 at the University Inn and Conference Center in Getzville.

Jam Theatricals will present Eric Idle in "The Greedy Bastard Tour" at 8 p.m. on Nov. 9 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo and WNED will present Barrage at 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Pat Metheny Solo & Trio at 8 p.m. on Nov. 8 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The event is sponsored by WBFO.

The Friends of the Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present the fifth annual Masquerade Ball on Nov. 1 in the atrium of the center, located on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. It will be sponsored by Gibraltar, Commercial Print & Imaging, and Ivoclar Vivadent Inc.

Men who smoke marijuana frequently have significantly less seminal fluid, a lower total sperm count and their sperm behave abnormally, all of which may affect fertility adversely, a new study in reproductive physiology at the University at Buffalo has shown.

The mental impairment and problems with walking experienced by patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are linked to damage in the brain's gray matter, with MRI findings suggesting the damage is due to toxic deposits of iron, researchers from the University at Buffalo have shown for the first time.

The University at Buffalo this fall will lay approximately 14 miles of fiber-optic cable to enhance critical, high-speed data links between its two campuses and with affiliated research institutions, providing critical connectivity to support its research activity, particularly for the UB Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics.

State University of New York Chancellor Robert L. King today announced he will recommend to the State University of New York Board of Trustees that John Barclay Simpson be the next president of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The work of the Department of Industrial Engineering in the University at Buffalo's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences was recognized with two awards at the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) Congress held recently in Seoul, South Korea.

The University at Buffalo School of Management is accepting applications for UB's annual Panasci Entrepreneurial Competition, which awards $25,000 in seed capital to UB students and recent alumni who want to start their own business in Western New York.

Illegible prescriptions scrawled on physicians' notepads could become a thing of the past, thanks to two complementary technologies developed at the University at Buffalo and the University of Rochester that together are being licensed by mobileLexis, a digital paper solutions company based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present comedian Margaret Cho at 8 p.m. on Nov. 14 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The event is sponsored by the UB Student Association.

The Center for the Arts will present The Derek Trucks Band with special guest Vusi Mahlasela at 8 p.m. on Nov. 19 in the Mainstage theater located in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The concert is sponsored by the UB Student Association and WBUF-FM.

The University at Buffalo Law School will host a debate between the candidates for Erie County executive at 6:45 p.m. on Oct. 28 in 106 O'Brian Hall on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Researchers from the University at Buffalo are developing a handheld sensor that can detect the presence of toxins potentially used as agents in biological warfare.

The University at Buffalo Department of Theatre and Dance will present Zodiaque Dance Company on Nov. 13-16 and Nov. 20-23 in the Drama Theatre located in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

A new, computational method for simulating the spread of flu-like illnesses like SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) that is being developed by a University at Buffalo geographer may provide policymakers and analysts with new ammunition for studying and predicting the pattern of public-health threats in urban communities.

Robert J. Genco, D.D.S., Ph.D., of Buffalo, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Oral Biology in the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, has won the 2003 Norton M. Ross Award for Excellence in Clinical Research from the American Dental Association for his research into the relationship between periodontal and cardiovascular diseases.

Environmental Advocates, the New York State affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation, has named the University at Buffalo its "Environmentalist of the Year" for initiating an effort to buy wind energy that has become so successful it has made the university the state's largest purchaser of wind power.

Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi is slated to become the second-ranking administrator in SUNY, pending approval by the Board of Trustees at a meeting in December.

Local architecture buffs have the unique opportunity to see all five proposals -- not just the winning proposal -- in the competition to design the visitors center for Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House, thanks to the work of a UB architecture professor and seven graduate students.

A University at Buffalo graduate student and two 2003 UB graduates have received Fulbright grants, all to Canada, for 2003-04.

Mehrdad Hadighi, associate professor in the Department of Architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, has been selected as one of 10 semi-finalists in a design competition for a 9/11 memorial to be constructed in the award-winning Pier A Park, in Hoboken, N.J., across the Hudson River from the site of the World Trade Center.

In a classic example of scientific research that has successfully outgrown the university lab where it was born, a University at Buffalo professor's unique method for designing and synthesizing anti-cancer compounds, called protein kinase inhibitors, is being commercialized.

A joint project between the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions and the Jellinek Clinic in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, will examine how behavioral couples therapy works for cocaine-abusing patients across cultures.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions are developing a hybrid treatment method that incorporates training for parents, couples therapy and reduction of substance abuse as a means to improve the behavior and functioning of children of substance-abusing parents.

John B. Simpson, Ph.D., today received the unanimous approval of the State University of New York Board of Trustees to be the next president of the University at Buffalo.

Six teams from the University at Buffalo School of Management will contend for $1,000 in the first round of the national xTREME Accounting Campus Competition (xACT) sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to be held at 3 p.m. on Nov. 4 in the Jacobs Executive Development Center at 672 Delaware Ave.

Maria S. Horne of Williamsville, an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University at Buffalo who is internationally distinguished for her pedagogical skills and expertise in Ibero-American theater, has received the 2003 Guarionex Award from the Hispanic Network of Western New York in acknowledgement of her leadership and contributions to the Hispanic community.

Four University at Buffalo faculty members recently were honored by the State University of New York for significant accomplishments in their respective academic fields.

University at Buffalo researchers using the latest computer-assisted technologies of genetic analysis have shown for the first time how a widely used drug for treating multiple sclerosis -- interferon beta (IFN-beta-1a) -- can modulate the expression of particular genes in patients being treated for the disease.

The University at Buffalo Department of Theatre and Dance will present a student production of "Playboy of the Western World" on Nov. 12-16 in the Black Box Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

The University at Buffalo Alumni Association is accepting nominations for its Celebration of Excellence and Athletic Hall of Fame awards.

A new documentary by Danish director and filmmaker Anne-Gyrithe Bonne, "The Will to Live: A Notebook on Love, Hate and Reconciliation," will be presented, along with one of its subjects, Cambodian-American writer Chanrithy Him, on Nov. 20 at the University at Buffalo.

Poet Marie Ponsot will deliver the 27th Oscar Silverman Annual Poetry Reading at 8 p.m. Nov. 7 in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

The harvesting of a Caribbean soft coral off the coast of the Bahamas for use in a popular beauty product is providing a University at Buffalo marine biologist with an extraordinary experimental opportunity to answer fundamental questions about the ability of corals to survive environmental challenges.

Researchers from the University at Buffalo have developed a virtual-reality driving simulator that may help car-accident survivors recover from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- a prevalent, but commonly untreated, condition associated with serious car accidents.

Beginning in fall 2004, the Executive MBA (EMBA) Program in the University at Buffalo School of Management will move to an alternating weekend schedule to better accommodate the work responsibilities of its students and to increase attendance by candidates from farther away.

The University at Buffalo School of Nursing will inaugurate a new program in January to prepare nurses to be psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioners, one of the most in-demand and financially rewarding of nursing specialties.

Is exercise good or bad for cancer survivors? Should they eat hearty or restrict calories to speed recovery and prevent recurrence? Is a glass of wine a bad thing? A UB nursing professor headed a panel established by the American Cancer Society to answer these and many other questions concerning what persons who have survived cancer can do to lower their risk of recurrence and how those living with cancer can experience life to the fullest.