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Tyson to speak March 31
Best-selling author, television personality and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will speak at 8 p.m. March 31 in Alumni Arena, North Campus, as part of UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series.
Tyson is the host of “NOVA scienceNOW” on PBS, which offers popular access to the frontiers of science today. He also is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium in the American Museum of Natural History.
Tyson is a monthly essayist for Natural History magazine and the author of several books, including the 2007 New York Times bestseller “Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandries” and most recently, the bestselling “The Pluto Files,” in which he offers a lighthearted look at the planet Pluto from its discovery in 1930 to its recent demotion from planetary status.
Tickets are available at the Alumni Arena Box Office, Tickets.com and all Tops Friendly Markets.
African architect to deliver Birdair Lecture
Diébédo Francis Kéré, an award-winning architect from Burkina Faso whose practice is dedicated to sustainable architecture, will deliver the School of Architecture and Planning’s 2010 Birdair Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Friday in 301 Crosby Hall, South Campus.
The free public lecture celebrates the life of former UB instructor Walter Bird, world-renowned designer of lightweight structures and founder of the Birdair Corp., which annually sponsors this event.
“Kéré is an architect with a significant commitment to education and design in Africa,” says Brian Carter, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. “His talk will offer our students a better understanding of the needs and sensibilities of communities there, and how this particular architect is helping to improve the quality of life for people in his native country.”
He says the lecture was planned to help students and faculty understand how materials can be used in unique ways to produce buildings that are functional for the communities they serve and, at the same time, are elegant and sustainable.
In 2004, Kéré received a prestigious Aga Khan award for architecture for his first building, a primary school in the village of Gando, which is in the heart of Burkina Faso. He also was one of five recipients of the 2009 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, a prestigious international award he received for a secondary school in the village of Dano, Burkina Faso. This building received a special mention in the 6th edition of the International Sustainable Architecture Prize.
The designs of both schools were developed to achieve comfort in an extreme climate, use local materials and adapt technologies from the industrialized world.
RIA schedules spring seminar series
UB’s Research Institute on Addictions’ spring seminar series will open on Friday with a lecture by Paul R. Stasiewicz, RIA senior research scientist and director of the institute’s Clinical Research Center.
The three-part series is free and open to the public. Lectures will be held on designated Fridays at 10 a.m. in the RIA building at 1021 Main St. on UB’s Downtown Campus.
The opening presentation by Stasiewicz is titled “Buddha and the Behavior Therapist: Learning to Ride the Wave.” His current research is focused on investigating mechanisms of behavior change with a special emphasis on the reduction of negative emotional states as a change mechanism in alcohol treatment.
The series will continue on May 14 with a lecture by Carol Prescott, professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, titled “Beyond Heritability: Using Genetically Informative Samples to Study Etiology and Heterogeneity of Substance Use Disorders. Prescott’s research is focused on the genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in risk for alcohol dependence and other substance use disorders, and the mechanisms by which this variation is translated into clinical syndromes.
The series will conclude on May 21 with a presentation by Thomas H. Brandon, professor of psychology and oncology sciences at the University of South Florida, titled “Preventing Smoking Relapse: Dual Research Paradigms. Brandon, who also directs the Tobacco Research and Intervention Program at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, conducts basic human-behavioral research on factors that influence the maintenance and cessation of smoking (e.g., mood management, conditioned responding and outcome expectancies), as well as applied research in which those factors are targeted in smoking cessation interventions. In addition, he is developing cost-effective minimal interventions designed to reduce the rate of smoking relapse.
For more information on the individual seminars and presenters, check the RIA Web site.
Canadian architects to speak
The School of Architecture and Planning will present its 2010 Canadian Wood Lectures on Wednesday featuring presentations and discussion by principals of three distinguished firms from across eastern Canada, all of which are recognized for their innovative uses of wood and wood products.
The free public talk lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m. in 301 Crosby Hall, South Campus. A reception will follow.
Presenters are Brigitte Shim, professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, and founding principle of the Toronto firm of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects; Mario Saia, an iconic figure in Canadian architecture and the founder of Saia Barbarese Tpouzanov Architects of Montreal, Quebec; and Richard Kroeker, professor of architecture at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and principal of Richard Kroeker Design.
The multiple award-winning firm of Shim-Sutcliffe focuses on the integration of architecture, landscape and furniture and has created many masterpieces featuring innovated uses of wood. Among them are Tower House, Stratford, Ontario, clad in wood siding and concrete panels; Craven Road Studio, Toronto; and “Integral House,” a remarkable private residence in Toronto with a stunning, wood-faced undulating facade.
Saia, a world-renowned architect, has won multiple awards in his field. Maison Goulet, his home in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, Quebec, is considered one of the icons of Canadian modernism. Recognized as House of the Year in 2003 by Architecture magazine, it is notable for its splendid use of various woods inside and out.
Kroeker’s work focuses on usability and ecological sustainability. His architecture is often inspired by early Native American designs and materials, and pays special attention to a building’s surroundings, reflecting the natural beauty of its location.
Among his most notable recent projects is the elegant, native-inspired Pictou Landing Health Centre, a community center and main community health facility for the Mi’kmaq community of Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia. It was built by members of the community using local trees and is heated and cooled with geothermal energy from a decommissioned municipal well. It is designed to use 43 percent less energy than a conventional building of comparable size.
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