The UB Task Force on Women will hold a campus-wide celebration Thursday, April 25, of the national program, "Take Our Daughters to Work Day."

UB faculty, staff and students are urged to bring (or borrow and bring) a daughter to work and have her spend the day experiencing the workplace, learning about the jobs that women hold at UB and being acknowledged as valuable future adults in the working world.

A full day of activities is being planned, including workshops, visits to a variety of interesting UB sites, and lunch. The focus of the program is for girls ages 8 to 14. Arrangements can be made for a proxy parent for part or all of the day if you are unable to be with your daughter.

The committee is seeking sponsoring organizations interested in contributing financial support, in-kind assistance, a site to visit or volunteers. Current sponsors include UB Task Force on Women, United University Professionals, and Office of Student Life. If your group is interested in becoming a sponsor, contact Bernice Noble, Department of Microbiology, 829-2439.

For more information about the program, call Cathy Cleesattel, 645-2646, Ext. 127.

School of Nursing plans open house

The School of Nursing will hold an open house for students from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 8 in 825 Kimball Tower on UB's South Campus.

Information will be available about the school's baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degree programs, as well as about the RN-to-baccalaureate and RN-to-master's programs. For more information, call 829-2533.

LECTURE TO FOCUS ON DISCOVERY THAT CHANGED KNOWLEDGE OF GENETICS

RNA editing-one of the most important discoveries in molecular biology during the past 10 years-will be the subject of "Making Sense out of Nonsense: RNA Editing in an African Parasite," a talk that will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 25, in Room 215 of the Natural Sciences Building on the UB North Campus.

Laurie K. Read, assistant professor in the UB Department of Microbiology and a member of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, will discuss how the discovery of RNA editing has fundamentally changed what scientists know about how genes are regulated.

The discovery involves the information in RNA, ribonucleic acid, which is a copy of the information in DNA and which is ultimately decoded to make cellular proteins.

For years, it was believed that DNA contained a permanent blueprint defining the structure of cells and organisms, the sequence of which always directly defined protein structure.

However, scientists have discovered that in African parasites-and in other organisms, including humans-RNA sometimes first undergoes a process called RNA editing that dramatically alters the RNA.

"In these cases, the sequence of RNA is changed and only after these changes take place does the RNA code for proteins," said Read.

She will discuss how this discovery has allowed scientists to understand a fundamental genetic process and how this process may impact some human diseases.

Free and open to the public, the talk is sponsored by the UB Sciences Alumni Association of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics comprises the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics and Physics.

For more information, contact Cindy Nydahl at 645-2531.

Hauptman to speak at Sigma Xi session

Nobel Laureate Herbert Hauptman, research professor of biophysical sciences and adjunct professor of computer science at UB, will be the speaker April 23 for the UB Chapter of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society. Hauptman will speak on "The Role Which Mathematics Plays in the Natural Sciences" at the group's dinner meeting, to be held in the Center for Tomorrow on the North Campus.

The event will feature the annual student research poster competition, with two prizes of $100 to be awarded to the best graduate and undergraduate posters.

The competition, with an April 1 deadline, will be judged by a panel of scientists. Application forms are available from department chairs, directors of graduate and undergraduate programs and from David Triggle, UB vice provost for graduate education and dean of the graduate school. Following the dinner, which is complimentary for any student who presents a poster, winners will make a brief presentation.

For more information, call David Triggle at 645-7315. Send dinner reservation and check for $20 to Rosemary Elliot, Sigma Xi treasurer, Molecular and Cell Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm & Carlton Sts., Buffalo, N.Y. 14263.

Greater Buffalo Opera has vocal competition at UB March 8 and 9

The Greater Buffalo Opera Company will present its International Vocal Competition Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 in Slee Concert Hall on the UB North Campus. The public is invited to watch the 62 young artists from around the world taking part in the competition, which is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days.

A final concert, also open to the public, will be given in Slee Hall Saturday evening at 8 p.m. Tickets for the closing concert at $6, general admission; $4, students; and $25, patrons, will be available at the door.

Competition judges are Lois McDonald of Toronto; Thor Eckert of New York and Gary Burgess, UB associate professor of music. Awards include: First place, the Erwin Johnson Award of $2,500; second place, the Operabuffs Award of $1,000; third place, the Richard Miller Award of $500; fourth place, the Dr. Judith Wolf Award of $200 and Honorable Mention. First and second prize winners will be offered roles in a future opera.

Members of the International Vocal Competition committee are; J. Warren Perry, chair; Gary Burgess, GBOC general director; Janiece Epke-Baldwin, James Browning, Thomas Flanigan, Kerry S. Grant, Anastasia K. Johnson, Marguerite Knowles, Genia Las, Rev. Jacob Ledwon, Laura Martin, Richard Miller, Josephine D. Wise, and Judith Wolf.

MOCK TRIAL TEAM TAKES FIRST PLACE IN REGIONALS

A team of UB law students recently took first place in the Region II contest of the 1996 National Trial Advocacy Competition, besting teams from 10 other law schools.

Team members are Craig Brown, Jim Grable and Jennifer Runfola. Coaches are Diane La Vallee, UB law school Class of '83, and Thomas P. Franczyk, both Erie County assistant district attorneys, and Buffalo attorney Robert M. Murphy, Class of '56.

The team will compete in the national competition, to be held March 21-23 in Houston.

The regionals, held Feb. 8-11 in Albany, involved 22 teams from law schools at Syracuse, Brooklyn, Hofstra, Albany, Cardozo, St. John's, Fordham, Pace, Quinnipiac and Rutgers.

The UB victory was quite a coup, notes La Vallee, an Erie County assistant district attorney.

The competition involved all teams conducting a full trial case-a civil defamation case-with two witnesses for each side. The UB team won five trials to capture the championship, defeating Brooklyn in the final trial. Brown also won the "Best Advocate" award for overall performance in the competition.

Although UB's second team-Lori Giordano, Dave Hastings and Robert Fogg "did not enjoy the same success as their counterparts, they, too, worked very hard and did a great job," says Franczyk. Emily Leach, alternate for both teams, "was extremely effective in helping the others prepare for the competition," he notes.

Asian Studies program offers GRANTS FOR summer study

The Asian Studies program is offering two $2,000 summer grants to full-time UB faculty for undergraduate course development focusing on East Asia.

Recipients need not be Asian-area specialists, and may use the grant to create a new Asia-centered course; an Asian module for inclusion in an existing or proposed course or a module for inclusion in PSC/GEO 229: East Asian Political Economy.

Applications must be received by March 15. For full guidelines and application instructions, contact Asian Studies at 645-3474; .

Environmental research aided by equipment from Niagara Mohawk

Environmental research and testing conducted by the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has been bolstered, thanks to an equipment donation from Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. The company has donated an atomic-absorption spectrophotometer, which will enable researchers in UB's Environmental Engineering and Science Program to better analyze metal concentrations in environmental samples, including wastewater and soils.

The spectrophotometer, used at Niagara Mohawk's Huntley Steam Station in Tonawanda to analyze boiler water and wastewater from the plant, equipment replaces UB's older, outdated instrument.

"The basic technology is the same, but the software in newer instruments makes research and testing much easier to conduct," said John Van Benschoten, UB associate professor of civil engineering. "This donation from Niagara Mohawk will enable us to upgrade our research capabilities significantly."

Van Benschoten said that the instrument will increase the number of samples that can be analyzed and improve accuracy of the results. The instrument will be used by graduate students in a variety of projects.

"We're pleased to be able to further the business-education partnership between Niagara Mohawk and UB," said Joseph Dillman, Huntley plant manager. "Operational changes here have reduced the need for sample analysis, so we're glad that UB can put this equipment to good use." Dillman said remaining analysis requirements will be done by UB as part of the agreement.