Kudos

The C.R. Rao Gallery, devoted to the 70-year career of internationally known statistician Calyampudi R. Rao, opened on Dec. 22, 2013, in the C.R. Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science in Hyderabad, India.

Nobel Laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan unveiled a plaque at the opening of the gallery.

Former director of the Indian Statistical Institute and Eberly Professor Emeritus of Statistics at Penn State, Rao spends part of the year with family in Western New York and has developed a relationship with several UB faculty members. He holds a volunteer appointment at UB, interacting closely with faculty and students, and sharing his research expertise.

Rao is considered a world leader in statistics whose achievements have had a profound impact on a wide range of fields over the past seven decades, among them engineering, biostatistics, economics, genetics, medicine and anthropology.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy and the Royal Society. He received an honorary doctor of science degree from SUNY at last year’s UB general commencement ceremony, the 37th such degree he has received from universities across six continents.

The author of 14 books and 475 research papers, and adviser to 50 PhD students, Rao has received numerous prestigious awards. In addition to the National Medal of Science in 2002, these honors include both a gold and silver Guy Medal presented by the Royal Statistical Society, the highest awards given to statisticians in the U.K.; the Samuel Wilks Medal of the American Statistical Association, the highest award given to a statistician in the U.S.; and the International Mahalanobis Prize for lifetime achievement in statistics.

Rao’s broad influence also is reflected by the numerous common statistical terms that bear his name, such as the “Fisher-Rao Theorem” and the terms “Cramer-Rao bound,” “Rao-Blackwellization,” “Rao distance” and “Rao’s Orthogonal Array, ”each frequently found in standard statistics textbooks and current scholarly research.

President Satish K. Tripathi is among four community leaders who will be honored when the National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York holds its 2014 Citation Banquet on April 10.

The NFJC has worked to combat racism and other discrimination in the area since it was founded as a branch of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1951.

In addition to Tripathi, honorees are JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; UB Council member Christopher H. Koch, chief executive officer of New Era Cap Co.; and Monsignor David G. LiPuma, pastor of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Lewiston.

Campus Dining and Shops executive chef Seth Williams was awarded a Bronze Medal in the 2014 National Association of College and University Food Services’ (NACUFS) Northeast Regional Culinary Challenge. The competition took place on March 19 during the annual NACUFS Northeast Regional Conference at Rutgers University.

The Culinary Challenge recognizes outstanding food preparation and presentation skills in collegiate dining services. Competitors were required to incorporate the featured ingredient, live lobster, into an original hot entrée. Individual competitors had 60 minutes to prepare four portions of the entrée, as well as side dishes and sauces to create a balanced plate. Williams’ entry of Lobster & Grits — a unique take on a classic southern creole dish — paired blackened lobster meat with wild boar bacon and braised kale served over gruyere grits and topped with a truffle poached egg.

Three judges from the American Culinary Federation used a 40-point scale to grade each competitor in the categories of organization, cooking skills and culinary technique, and taste.

Campus Dining and Shops and UB will be the host school for the 2016 NACUFS Northeast Regional Conference.

James O’Donnell, dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has appointed Kathleen Boje to the position of associate dean for academic affairs. Boje will continue her faculty appointment as associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences.

She currently also serves as director and advisor to the Pharmaceutics Baccalaureate Program.

Boje was appointed assistant professor in the UB Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1992.

She has published numerous peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and has been cited for her teaching as recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004.

Boje received her BS in pharmacy from Duquesne University, her PhD in pharmaceutics from the University at Buffalo and is also a licensed registered pharmacist (RPH) in the State of New York.

Boje joins three other faculty members who provide important service to the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in their roles as associate deans: Karl Fiebelkorn, associate dean for student affairs and professional relations and associate professor of pharmacy practice; Joseph Balthasar, associate dean for research and professor of pharmaceutical sciences; and Candise Morris, associate dean for resource management .