University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: July 28, 2005

Day of Caring set for Aug. 17

Members of the UB community are urged to help make a difference in the lives of other Western New Yorkers by supporting the 13th annual United Way Day of Caring, to be held on Aug. 17.

Last year, approximately 150 volunteers from UB joined volunteers from across Erie and Niagara counties who completed a variety of projects focused on making the community a better place to live.

This year, UB will focus on education, and volunteers will perform a variety of tasks at local schools, including working with children, painting, preparing classrooms, landscaping, cleaning and other projects that will improve the schools in the community.

The UB team will kick off Day of Caring with breakfast at 8 a.m. at St. Joseph School, 3275 Main St., adjacent to the South Campus.

To reserve a spot on the UB Day of Caring team, visit http://www. vpsa.buffalo.edu/dayofcaring/docstart.asp.

Anyone with questions regarding the Day of Caring can contact Ken Lam, Day of Caring chair, or Kate Doran, SEFA graduate assistant, via e-mail at ubdayofcaring@vpsa.buffalo. edu or 645-7904, ext. 633.

Bonnie Raitt to perform in CFA

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow for an Oct. 13 performance by singer/songwriter Bonnie Raitt in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

Raitt will appear at 8 p.m. in the CFA Mainstage theater.

More than a best-selling artist, respected guitarist, expressive singer and accomplished songwriter, Raitt has become an institution in American music. Frequently pigeonholed as a "guitar-slingin' blues mama," Raitt has, in fact, created a unique musical territory with a career spanning nine Grammys and 15 million album sales in more than three decades.

The first single from her next album, "Souls Alike," will hit radio stations in August.

"This record was a matter of stretching and not repeating myself," Raitt says. "Some of the songs are clearly terrain that people have come to know and appreciate from me, but the rest are about finding some new direction and something new to say."

It's been three years since Raitt's last new release, 2002's "Silver Lining," but she's stayed busy in the interim. A lengthy world tour followed the album's release, along with numerous guest recordings, including the stunning "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" on Ray Charles' final album, "Genius Loves Company," which won last year's Grammy award for Album of the Year. Most recently, she participated in the historic "Vote for Change" tour leading up to the 2004 presidential election.

Tickets for Bonnie Raitt are $55, $46 and $37, and may be purchased at the CFA box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster locations.

For more information, call 645-ARTS.

Atwood received Schoellkopf award

Jim D. Atwood, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, has received the 2005 Jacob F. Schoellkopf Medal recognizing achievement in chemical technology.

The Western New York section of the American Chemical Society awards the honor to one locally based chemist each year. The society has presented the medal annually since 1931, making it the oldest of its kind nationally. UB scientists also won the award in 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

Atwood received the award in recognition of his proficiency in the laboratory and as a writer and editor.

During his career, Atwood has published the definitive textbook in his subdiscipline, "Inorganic and Organometallic Reaction Mechanisms," authored 130 manuscripts in the areas of organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis, and edited numerous books and journals. He serves on the editorial board of Organometallics and Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms and as co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Coordination Chemistry.

A UB faculty member since 1977, Atwood has served as chair of the Department of Chemistry since 1998. During his tenure, the department increased its faculty members from 26 to 33, its research budget from $4.2 million to $9.3 million, its graduate students from 107 to 143, and its undergraduate majors from 128 to 274.

Atwood received the College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002 and the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003.

He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry magna cum laude from Southwest Missouri State University and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jusko receives Volwiler award

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) has selected William J. Jusko, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, as this year's recipient of its Volwiler Research Achievement Award.

Considered the AACP's premier research award, the honor recognizes outstanding research conducted by a pharmaceutical scientist/educator. The award is named in memory of Ernest H. Volwiler, the former president and research director of Abbott Laboratories, which sponsors the award. The AACP board of directors presented the award this month at its annual meeting in Cincinnati.

A UB faculty member since 1972, Jusko has numerous publications that examine the factors and mechanisms that alter the disposition and effects of diverse drugs. His research emphasizes the development of new mathematical principles and methods for characterizing the in vivo behavior of drugs.

Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, Jusko received a bachelor's of science degree in pharmacy in 1965 and a doctoral degree in 1970 from UB. He joined the clinical pharmacology section of the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital and was assistant professor of pharmacology at Boston University School of Medicine. He returned to UB as an assistant professor and director of the clinical pharmacokinetics laboratory.

A Fulbright scholar at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacology in Italy from 1978-79, Jusko has received numerous awards for his research and service. He has published nearly 500 articles, book chapters and reviews. He is a fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, American College of Clinical Pharmacology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and serves on the editorial boards of six journals. He is named in the Information Sciences Institute's Most Highly Cited List in Pharmacology.

Videoconference to focus on Great Lakes annex agreements

Members of the UB community are invited to attend a free videoconference, "A Bilateral Workshop on the Revised Annex Agreements and the Future of the Great Lakes," being held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Bulger Communications Center at Buffalo State College.

The conference is being held concurrently at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University.

Joseph F. Atkinson, director of the Great Lakes Program at UB, will serve as moderator for one of the discussion panels.

The bilateral workshop will provide one of the few opportunities for interactive public comment and dialogue on the revised drafts of the Great Lakes Annex 2001 Implementing Agreements during the 60-day public comment period that began June 30 and will end Aug. 29.

The annex agreements may be downloaded at http://www.powi.ca.

Although the videoconference is free, registration is required and may be completed by contacting frasergs@buffalostate.edu or moshenko@eng.buffalo.edu.

For further information, contact the Great Lakes Program at 645-2088.

Buffalo/Niagara WorldConnect honors Boyer

Barry Boyer, professor in the UB Law School, has been recognized by Buffalo/Niagara WorldConnect, a local group that helps entrepreneurs and leaders make global connections.

Boyer recently received the Community Resource of the Year award, given to individuals who meet with WorldConnect-sponsored international leaders and share best practices with their international counterparts.

Buffalo/Niagara WorldConnect arranges seminars, conversations and professional programs for people from around the world through a program of the U.S. Department of State. Participants are decision makers and up-and-coming leaders in their home countries who have been recommended for the program by the U.S. embassies in their countries. When they arrive in the United States, they meet with Americans on a variety of topics. For example, when foreign visitors wish to discuss "water issues," Buffalo Niagara WorldConnect contacts Boyer, whose expertise is in environmental law and administrative regulation.

Denise Hammell, deputy director of Buffalo/Niagara WorldConnect, said the group could not run its programs and bring influential people to Buffalo without volunteers like Boyer, who give generously of their time and expertise.

"The award is to express gratitude to a person who goes out of their way and volunteers their time to meet with international people," she said.

A member of the UB law faculty since 1973, Boyer teaches courses in environmental and administrative law, oversees the environmental law externship and concentration and serves as co-director of the State of the Region project.

He served as dean of the law school from 1992-98 and also has been an associate dean and director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy.

His research focuses on regional performance indicators for environment, economy and government services, and on the environmental legal history of Western New York.

Boyer holds a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Sscientists to honor pioneering physiologist

Scientists from Europe, Asia and the United States will gather in Buffalo Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 for a symposium honoring the late Leon Farhi, a pioneer in the field of pulmonary medicine, environmental physiology and bioengineering.

Farhi was a SUNY Distinguished Professor and chaired the Department of Physiology in the School of Medicine and Biological Sciences for many years.

The symposium will be held in the Buffalo Niagara Marriott.

Farhi's research and leadership led the fields of pulmonary medicine, environmental physiology and bioengineering for more than 35 years. He pioneered the study of the distribution of respiratory gases and blood within the lungs and tissues, and developed new approaches for measuring cardiac output and gas exchange. He worked with scientists from around the world, including young physicians who later became leaders in their fields. Farhi was a devoted teacher throughout his career and pioneered the use of computers and simulation programs in teaching.

Working with colleagues at UB, he studied man's adaptation to space during NASA space shuttle flights in the 1990s. That work lead to establishment of the National Center of Excellence in Environmental Physiology at UB, which became the current Center for Research and Education in Special Environments (CRESE). CRESE contains the most advanced facilities to simulate environmental stress in the world.

Researchers from the following institutions will serving as symposium faculty: Harvard Medical School; Imperial College in London, England; Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden; Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Gottingen, Germany; National Institutes of Health; Stanford University; University of Alabama-Birmingham; University at Buffalo; University of Milan, Italy; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University of Oklahoma; University of Udine, Italy; University of Washington; Yale University School of Medicine, and University of Zurich, Switzerland.

A poster session will be held from noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 29.

The symposium is supported by the departments of Physiology and Biophysics, and Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, CRESE, UB Rahn Lecture Series, ONY Inc., Omni Quarter Technology and Farhi's friends and family.

Burke named interim director of EDAAA

Barbara A. Burke, associate director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration (EDAAA), has been named interim director.

A full search for the position will be conducted at a later date.

A member of the UB staff for more than 30 years, Burke has been associate director of EDAAA since 1999. She previously served in a number of positions in Human Resource Services, including more than 10 years as director of personnel services for the Research Foundation.

The Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration defends social justice on the university campus and helps ensure that the university is in compliance with state and federal nondiscrimination laws and executive orders, and related university policies.