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Mission of the Office of Technology Transfer Services is to make UB inventions available for public benefit and to place those technologies or inventions with local industry to support WNY economic development.

Massing's new responsibilities involve managing activities relating to the disclosure, development, marketing, protection and licensing of intellectual and tangible property developed by UB faculty and staff, including the filing and prosecution of patent applications in the U.S. and foreign countries.

He has served as director of engineering at Keller Technology Corp., as vice president of manufacturing at Kistler Instrument Corp. and as senior mechanical engineer at Calspan Corp.

Massing received the 1980 Engineering Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Transportation for studies improving the response of anthropomorphic crash-test dummies. He chairs the Survey, Statistics and Metrics Committee of the Association of University Technology Managers. He earned a master's degree in engineering and a bachelor's degree in electrical and mechanical engineering from UB.

EPIDEMIOLOGIST ON BOARD OF NATIONAL AGENCY STUDYING VETERANS' HEALTH
Germaine Buck, UB associate professor of social and preventive medicine, has been appointed to a three-year term on the board of the Institute of Medicine's Medical Follow-up Agency, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

The agency conducts epidemiologic research on the health status of veterans. Its board is composed of 14 physicians and researchers from universities and research centers across the country.

Buck has won national recognition for her epidemiologic research in human reproduction and fetal and early-childhood health. In 1995, she was appointed to a three-year term on the National Research Council Committee on Toxicology, which provides expert advice to government agencies on toxicologic issues and problems.

She holds a prestigious three-year fellowship from the Merck Company Foundation and the Society for Epidemiology Research to conduct a long-term study of the safety and effectiveness of tubal ligation.

Buck is a registered nurse and holds master's and doctoral degrees in epidemiology from UB. She is a member of the American College of Epidemiology, Society for Epidemiologic Research and the Society for Pediatric Epidemiologic Research, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. She publishes frequently in professional journals.

MILLER ELECTED PRESIDENT OF DENTAL ALUMNI
Raymond G. Miller has been elected president of the 1,300-member UB Dental Alumni Association for 1997. A 1985 graduate of the UB School of Dental Medicine, Miller is a clinical instructor of oral diagnostic sciences at the dental school and maintains private practices in Lancaster and Amherst. He also is on the attending staff of the Erie County Medical Center.

A major with the 107th Air Refueling Wing of the New York Air National Guard, Miller is a member of the American Dental Association and its state and district societies.

Other newly elected officers are:

· Michael D. Ehlers, president-elect. A 1985 UB dental school graduate, Ehlers is a UB clinical instructor of restorative dentistry and is in practice in Boston.

· Paul Dibenedetto, secretary. Dibenedetto graduated from the UB dental school in 1979 and is in practice in Cheektowaga.

· Richard J. Lynch, treasurer. Lynch is a 1983 UB dental school graduate and is in practice in Buffalo.

KAARS, TAPLIN, KOBRIN NAMED TO INTERIM POSTS IN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
Janina Kaars has been appointed interim assistant vice provost for Undergraduate Education, it has been announced by Nicolas Goodman, vice provost for Undergraduate Education. Kaars, who will continue as director of the Academic Advisement Center, will be responsible for coordinating and monitoring the university's undergraduate academic policies and procedures and will serve as senior member of the vice provost's staff. She has worked at the university since 1975 and since 1993 as director of the Advisement Center.

Other organizational changes announced by Goodman include: Cheryl Taplin, senior academic advisor, has been appointed interim assistant director of the Academic Advisement Center. She will be responsible for several new initiatives within the Advisement Center and will serve as acting director in Kaars' absence. Taplin has been an advisor at the university since 1988 and has been the coordinator of the transfer credit base for UBDARS.

Carol Kobrin has been appointed interim assistant to the vice provost for Resource Management and will be responsible for budget and personnel. She will also continue as the assistant to the director of the Academic Advisement Center. She has worked at the university since 1975 and has been in Academic Advisement since 1995.

ENGEL NAMED PRESIDENT OF LAW & SOCIETY ASSOCIATION
David M. Engel, professor of law and director of the UB Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, has been elected president of the 1,400-member Law and Society Association (LSA). He will be installed as president at the group's annual meeting in St. Louis in June.

Members of the LSA, founded in 1965, include U.S. and international scholars from law, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, economics and history.

Concerned with the role of law in social, political, economic and cultural life, a major aim of LSA is to encourage input from a variety of disciplines into the study of sociolegal topics.

A UB faculty member since 1985, Engel teaches courses in law, culture and society, and law and social science. A book he co-authored, "Law and Community in Three American Towns," won LSA's book award in 1996. He is associate editor of Law & Society Review, the LSA journal.

Before joining the UB faculty, he served as a research attorney and project director for the American Bar Foundation and a Peace Corps volunteer, teacher and educational supervisor working in Songkhla, Thailand. He earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and master's and law degrees from the University of Michigan.

"HOW COLD CAN COLD BE?" TO BE SUBJECT OF SCIENCES ALUMNI TALK
Imagine an environment that is colder than outer space. It may sound inhospitable, but for the past 100 years, some physicists have made such low temperatures the focus of their work.

One such scientist, Francis M. Gasparini, professor of physics at UB, will discuss "The Saga of Low Temperature Physics: A Quest for the Absolute Zero" at a talk to begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 27, in Room 215 of the Natural Sciences Complex, North Campus.

A tour of UB's low-temperature research facility will follow the talk.

The lecture, free and open to the public, is part of the UB Sciences Alumni Association lecture series.

According to Gasparini, the discovery that began 100 years ago with the cooling of helium gas until it became a liquid initiated a revolution in physics. He will explain how the drive for absolute zero is motivated by the desire to observe new phenomena such as superconductivity and superfluidity that only can be viewed at these temperatures. He also will discuss how initial observations of these phenomena paved the way for the acceptance of a new physics-quantum mechanics. For more information, call Cindy Nydahl at 645-2531.

PARTICIPANTS NEEDED FOR TOOTHBRUSH EVALUATION
Researchers in the UB School of Dental Medicine are seeking more than 100 healthy adults between the ages of 21-65 who have signs of periodontal (gum) disease to help evaluate the effects of a new toothbrush on oral health. Symptoms of periodontal disease include red and/or bleeding gums after brushing.

Participants will be required to make five visits to the dental school on the South Campus. They will receive $125 reimbursement for time and travel upon completion of the study. Anyone interested in participating can call 829-3940 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays.

SAMSUNG EXECS GRADUATE FROM UB PROGRAM
Twenty-four senior-level executives from Samsung Corp. have graduated from an information-technology education program administered by the Department of Management Science and Systems in the UB School of Management.

The graduates, chief information officers from Samsung's headquarters in South Korea, completed a six-week program that analyzed ways information technology can be applied to a company's strategic business initiatives. "Information technology is having an increasing global impact on the way business operates," said UB Professor and program director Carl Pegels.

Samsung, ranked among Fortune magazine's most profitable international corporations, commissioned the program as part of its strategy to remain a global business leader.

Graduates included Doo Hyung Kim, Chan Koo Park, Chung Sam Ahn, Wan Goo Gee, Bang Hwan Chung, Kyung Hoe Koo, Young Sik Ro, Dong Ho Kim, Ho Youl Lim, Hyun Choon Jang, Sang Bok Lee, Jeong Muk Lim, Jae Sam Yang, Suk Kee Baek, Kweon Kang, Wang Jin Mun, Young Tae Kim, Kyung In Kim, Jin Wook Han, Jin Seol Yang, Byung Chul Kang, Yong Chul Kim, Sang Youn Lee and Won Tae Shim.

SEIDL SELECTION FEATURED ON NEW FOLK RECORDING
"Song of New Horizons," a piece performed by Hull House Revival-the folk duo comprised of Fredrick W. Seidl, dean of the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Social Work, and Dean Santos, a faculty member at the Rochester Institute of Technology-is one of 25 selections on the recently released audio cassette and CD "Rochester Sings in Many Visions, Many Voices."

The recording, a multicultural journey of 250 musicians, is a volunteer collaboration between Rochester's WOKR-TV and Dynamic Recording Studio. Proceeds benefit the project Beyond Racism, which trains facilitators to create and deliver diversity education programs in the Rochester area.

"Song of New Horizons," written by Santos and featuring Seidl and Santos on guitar and vocals, tells the story of a 14-year-old with dyslexia who seeks to find "a fertile garden" where his differences are cultivated as unique assets.

"Rochester Sings in Many Visions, Many Voices" is available for under $15, which includes shipping and handling, by calling 621-6270.

9 SERVE ON UB MINORITY RECRUITMENT TEAM
Nine Buffalo residents are members of UB's newly-formed Minority Recruitment Team, a group of students who assist the Office of Admissions and the university with the recruitment of students, particularly those who are African-American, Native-American or Latino.

They are: Natalie Armstrong, Calvin Baxter, David Collins, Tanika Edwards, Michelle Hare, Kawanza McCall, Moritza Ortiz, Yohannes Semere and Teraysa Smith.

The team participates in special recruitment programs, such as UB's annual open house and diversity reception, and telephone campaigns, and speak with prospective students.

PARTICIPANTS SOUGHT FOR PANIC DISORDER RESEARCH
Do you suffer from sudden rushes of intense fear and anxiety that appear out of the blue? Are these fearful episodes accompanied by rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, sweating and trembling?

If so, and you are at least 18 years of age, you may be eligible to participate in research on panic disorder being conducted by the UB departments of Psychology, Physical Therapy and Exercise Science, and Psychiatry.

Participation will begin with a diagnostic interview, with appointments scheduled at individuals' convenience at the North Campus. Participants will receive $50 upon completion of the procedure.

Individuals with heart or lung disease, seizure disorders or who are pregnant are not eligible. Anyone interested in participating should contact the UB Center for Anxiety Research, 645-3650, ext. 337.