The University at Buffalo announced today that it is joining a strategic alliance to support and expand the Kids Voting Western New York program.

At a time when many U.S. universities are just beginning to navigate China's complex political environment and establish new ventures there, the University at Buffalo is marking the 25th anniversary of its successful, and historic, partnerships in China that were the first such agreements with any U.S. university following the normalization of relations between the U.S. and the Peoples Republic of China.

Ronald C. Kessler, Ph.D., Harvard University professor and a major figure in the field of mental health in the U.S. and abroad, will present the J. Warren Perry Lecture on Oct. 13 at 3:30 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on UB's North (Amherst) Campus.

When an explosion, accidental cremation or a fire set deliberately to cover a crime destroys a body, precious little may remain to link it to a life once lived. Yet even among the ashes, a team of forensic dental researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown that evidence exists that can help identify human remains when all else -- flesh, bones, teeth, DNA -- is lost.

The latest enhancement of the Web-based Regional Knowledge Network of UB's Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth is the addition of 79 data variables and dynamic mapping capacities within its the Health & Human services topic.

University at Buffalo researchers and their collaborators at other institutions have been awarded a four-year, $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant, under the NSF Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT) initiative, to develop semiconductor-based terahertz detectors that can be integrated seamlessly with conventional electronics. The grant is one of only 10 that the NSF has funded from more than 400 applications received.

Schizophrenia researchers historically have aligned themselves into two opposing camps: structuralists and functionalists. Structuralists have pursued the idea that the brains of schizophrenics show structural changes in the cortex and brain stem. Functionalists have held to the dopamine antagonist theory: that the neurotransmitter dopamine is malfunctioning, causing the disease's characteristic delusions and hallucinations. UB researchers appear to have broken the stalemate.

"ON WORDS: A Conference on the Life and Work of Robert Creeley," to be held Oct. 12-14, will feature presentations and readings by some of America's premiere contemporary poets, critics, translators, essayists and theorists -- all focused on the literary production of one of their most influential colleagues.

Increasingly, the term "U.S. citizen" fails to include the rights of a large and growing public that includes immigrants and U.S.-born Latina/os, according to Angela Valenzuela, Haskew Centennial Professor at University of Texas at Austin.

Kazimierz Braun of Getzville, professor of theatre and dance in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, is a historian, poet, translator, essayist, novelist, playwright, scholar and remains a leading theater director in his native Poland. On top of that, he is having a banner year. This year his work is the subject of a new 335-page book of essays, "Horizons of Theatre II: Kazimierz Braun's Way."

Sports medicine specialists in the University at Buffalo's Sports Medicine Institute have developed a new method for treating athletes who sustain post-concussion syndrome that, unlike the conventional approach, allows athletes to maintain conditioning while recovering gradually from the injury.

Since 1999, the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women at the University at Buffalo has collected, preserved and presented the written and oral histories of hundreds of female African-American community builders across Western New York state and southern Ontario. Now, with a $280,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the institute is preparing a series of 26 one-hour radio programs derived from its Uncrowned Queens archive that will begin broadcasting in May.

Judith Heumann, a leading activist in the disability-rights movement, will be the keynote speaker for the fifth annual "Gender Week: Gender Matters," to be held Oct. 9-13 on the University at Buffalo North and South campuses.

Mark J. Lema, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, will be installed as president of the 40,000-member American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) during the organization's annual meeting in Chicago Oct. 14-18.

The Graduate Group for German and Austrian Studies at the University at Buffalo will screen two gems of East German cinema on Oct. 16 as part of the national tour titled "Rebels Without a Cause: The Cinema of East Germany."

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present The Derek Trucks Band at 8 p.m. on May 15 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

The University at Buffalo will resume classes, operations and activities on Tuesday, Oct. 17. The Town of Amherst driving restrictions have been modified and power has been restored to the campus.

David Kofke, Ph.D., University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has been appointed chair of the department.

Future undergraduate and graduate students in the University at Buffalo School of Management will receive more financial help in pursuing their degrees, thanks to a $1.2 million endowment bequest established for undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships.

To celebrate the launching of the University at Buffalo's new graduate program in evolution, ecology and behavior, the founding departments in the College of Arts and Sciences are screening the film, "Flock of Dodos," and holding a roundtable discussion about intelligent design and science communication.

A new multidisciplinary graduate program in evolution, ecology and behavior that focuses on the interactions between organisms and their environments over time is being offered by the University at Buffalo's College of Arts and Sciences.

Can conventional semiconductors learn new tricks? Igor Zutic is betting that they can. Zutic, a University at Buffalo theoretical physicist and the recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award, is finding ways to introduce spintronic properties and a phenomenon called spin injection into silicon.

Flutist Cheryl Gobbetti-Hoffman, of Buffalo, adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Music, College of Arts and Sciences, has a new CD on the Raven label with award-winning organist Bruce Neswick.

Former U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards will visit the University at Buffalo on Oct. 30 to deliver the keynote address at the Western New York Poverty Symposium being held in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

The Hon. Michael H. Wilson, O.C., ambassador of Canada to the United States, will deliver a major address, "Canada's Commitment to a Continental and Global Agenda," on Oct. 25 at the University at Buffalo

The University at Buffalo is reaching out with assistance to areas of Buffalo Niagara impacted by power outages and storm-related damage and challenges.

In the aftermath of October's historic snowstorm, Western New Yorkers were painfully reminded of the widespread destruction that snowy weather can bring, which is why new steps are needed to avert winter-weather disasters, according to University at Buffalo professor Ernest Sternberg, who studies disaster preparedness and response.

Pulmonary researchers at the University at Buffalo have created asthma-like symptoms in non-asthmatic volunteers by decreasing their lung volume through simulated obesity. The study results suggest that the airway hyperresponsiveness seen in obese patients, which often leads to a diagnosis of asthma, may be treated more successfully through weight reduction than by asthma medication.

As electric power this week returned to the last of the homes and businesses in Western New York affected by the devastating October snowstorm, researchers at the University at Buffalo were discussing how tiny, nanoscale sensors could make power systems far more resilient.

Mecca S. Cranley, Ph.D., who has served as dean of UB's School of Nursing since 1991, has announced that she is stepping down at the end of the current academic year.

Performances by the Vogler String Quartet and Metropolitan Opera tenor William Ferguson, and three recitals by members of the UB music faculty will be among the offerings to be presented by the Department of Music in November.

Hon. Michael A. Telesca, whose career on the bench has encompassed county, state and federal judgeships, will receive the 2006 Edwin F. Jaeckle Award from the University at Buffalo Law School and the UB Law Alumni Association at a luncheon to be held on Nov. 18 in the Buffalo Hyatt Regency.

Nobel laureate Gary Becker will be among the notable economists who will be attending the inaugural conference of the University at Buffalo's Signature Center of Excellence on Human Capital, Technology Transfer and Economic Growth and Development, being held tomorrow and Saturday in the Buffalo Niagara Marriott.

A little more than a week after a devastating snowstorm united the City of Good Neighbors was the perfect time for Chris Barr, a University at Buffalo graduate student in the Department of Media, to bring his traveling project, "From Here to There Under an Umbrella," to Buffalo last weekend.

Jefferson McMahan, one of America's leading moral philosophers, will deliver the 2006 George F. Hourani Lectures in Moral Philosophy presented by the Department of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo.

Lynda Schneekloth, professor of architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, is calling on city officials and residents alike to be very careful in the treatment of trees damaged in the recent October snowstorm.

Ireland-based architects Merritt Bucholz and Karen McEvoy will present an illustrated lecture on their work at the Nov. 1 as part of the annual lecture series of the UB School of Architecture and Planning.

Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University at Buffalo, has received an honorary doctor of science degree (D.Sc.) from the Indian Institute of Information Technology Allahabad in Allahabad, India.

The School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University at Buffalo has established a Department of Health Behavior and recruited a leader in the field to chair it.

When dentists see an unusual shadowy area of bone loss on an X-ray of the lower jawbone, they may be concerned and order a biopsy. In dental parlance, this strange formation may represent an "anterior variant of the mandibular lingual bone depression," a condition that may look serious, but actually is a harmless bone depression, a rare congenital anomaly that needs no further treatment.

The Division of Student Affairs at the University at Buffalo has been awarded a three-year, $193,793 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to address suicidal and other harmful behaviors through a comprehensive campus-wide approach to the subject.

The University at Buffalo has acquired three important archival collections that will facilitate a deep understanding of several aspects of the Jewish, medical, women's and academic history of the region and the United States.

Texas recently raised the speed limit on a portion of its interstate highway to 80 mph. Based on the mantra "Speed Kills," fatalities on that West Texas roadway should climb. "Not so fast," say emergency medicine researchers in the Center for Transportation Injury Research and Calspan University at Buffalo Research Center (CUBRC).

Frank Howard will present a lecture entitled "Developing the Warm Heart" at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9 in the University at Buffalo Anderson Gallery.

A new discussion group, collectiveXchange, has formed at the University at Buffalo. The group will meet from 5:30-7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month to explore the intersections of contemporary art practice, politics and culture. For the inaugural fall 2006 season, collectiveXchange has invited three artist collectives to discuss their history, missions and current projects.

The Department of Theatre and Dance at the University at Buffalo will present "She Loves Me" Nov. 15-19 in the Drama Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. Performances will be held at 8 p.m. on Nov. 15-18 and 2 p.m. on Nov. 18 and 19.