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Chemist receives Cottrell Award
Sarbajit Banerjee, assistant professor of chemistry, is one of 11 scholars in the U.S. who has been awarded a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, a private foundation that aids basic research in the physical sciences at U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities.
The awards, which provide $75,000 to recipients, recognize early-career scientists who are leaders in integrating science teaching and research at leading U.S. research universities.
Banerjee will use the award to conduct research to better understand vanadium oxides, chemical compounds used in night-vision technologies and other applications. A major focus of his work is to adapt the compounds for use in “smart windows” that change color depending on temperature and as transistors for next-generation computer chips. Another focus involves trapping single nanowires of vanadium oxides, one-thousandth the size of a human hair, within device structures to measure individual nanowire conductivity.
Other research conducted by Banerjee and his graduate students on optimizing the production of graphene, a carbon nanomaterial, is being commercialized by a UB spinoff company, Niagara Falls-based Graphene Devices, which has obtained more than $600,000 in federal and state funding.
Banerjee also is a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award, the foundation’s most prestigious award for junior investigators, and an ExxonMobil Solid-State Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society.
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Exhibition to highlight MFA work
An exhibition of work by eight first-year MFA students from the Department of Visual Studies will open with a public reception from 5-7 p.m. April 7 in
the UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.The exhibition, which will be free and open to the public, will be on view in the Second Floor Gallery through April 30. It will feature the artwork of Adrian Bertolone, Bradley Phillips, Christopher Fox, Eduardo Velazquez, Liz Rywelski, Mary Johnson, Necole Zayatz and Ripley Whiteside, and include a variety of mediums and styles, among them live music, performance, printmaking, video, painting, drawing, sculpture and photography.
UB Art Gallery is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 645-6912.
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Flags at half-mast on Monday
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed that flags on state government buildings—including those at UB—be flown at half-mast on March 14 in honor of a Fort Drum soldier who died in Afghanistan.
Army Specialist Andrew Wade died on March 9 of injuries sustained in a noncombat incident in Kunduz Province.
Cuomo has ordered that flags on all state buildings be lowered to half-mast in honor of and tribute to New York service members who are killed in action or die in a combat zone.
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‘Cool’ and ‘weird’ science returns to UB
UB will celebrate scientific exploration in the local community as part of the 25th annual Science Exploration Day for promising Western New York high school students, to be held on March 16 on the North Campus.
The event will bring 700 students from 25 schools, 30 scientists and intriguing guests such as the Island Snake Lady to campus from 9:15 a.m. to 1:05 p.m. UB, the Western section of the Science Teacher Association of New York State and the Niagara Frontier Science Supervisor’s Association have organized the keynote presentation, laboratory tours and sessions with scientists and educators.
“Students get to hear about science from people who are doing science,” says Rodney Doran, UB professor emeritus of science education B. “They are local folks, and [students are] getting experience beyond the textbook.”
Students will attend a large-group presentation, two small-group presentations or lab tours, and the keynote presentation, “Saving the Lake Erie Water Snake,” by Kristin Stanford—better known as “The Island Snake Lady”—who has dedicated her life to researching the Lake Erie water snake and educating people on the snake’s importance to the Lake Erie area. Stanford is expected to bring some live specimens of the reptile she has worked so hard to protect.
Students will also have the chance to tour various UB laboratories, such as the National Science Foundation's George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) facility, the New York State Center for Engineering Design & Industrial Innovation’s Motion Simulation Laboratory, the water research facility and the Pharmacy Museum, as well as some research labs in the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geology and Physics.
Business support program planned
UB’s Office of Economic Engagement, the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency and the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator will hold an event to highlight the business and scientific expertise available to businesses in Chautauqua County.
The program will be held from 9-11:30 a.m. March 11 in the Robert H. Jackson Center, 305 East Fourth St., Jamestown, and repeated from 2-4:30 p.m. in the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator, 214 Central Ave., Dunkirk.
The event will introduce businesspeople to the resources and services available at UB and SUNY Fredonia for businesses seeking to grow and recruit interns and employees, particularly employees with business management or engineering experience.
CCIDA Administrative Director/CEO Bill Daly had attended similar events hosted on UB’s campus and wanted to sponsor one for the companies in his region.
“Our companies currently benefit from the graduates and student interns that come through colleges in Jamestown and Fredonia,” he said, “however many are less familiar with the resources of UB—a large research university—and the support offered through the Fredonia Technology Incubator.
“We saw this as another way to help these businesses grow, which in turn means more employment opportunities for the residents of Chautauqua County,” he added.
“The university is glad to be part of Bill Daly’s vision for improving the innovation economy of New York state and we are appreciative that he asked us to help,” said Marsha S. Henderson, vice president of external affairs. “Events like these are one way the OEE showcases the university’s resources. The outreach fits well with UB’s mission, and it aligns with SUNY’s strategic goals for economic development and outreach.”
Program participants will include the New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII); The Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE), Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR); Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR); UB Career Services; and the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator.
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