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Rustgi lecture set
Stuart Parkin, an experimental physicist with the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., will speak on "The Spin on Electronics" at the 13th annual Moti Lal Rustgi Memorial Lecture at 4 p.m. April 6 in 225 Natural Sciences Complex, North Campus.
The Rustgi lecture, presented by the Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences, will be free and open to the public. The annual lecture is held to honor the late Moti Lal Rustgi, professor of physics at UB from 1966-92.
A Fellow of the American Physical Society and Consulting Professor in Applied Physics at Stanford University since 1997, Parkin has conducted research into the behavior of thin-film magnetic structures that has been critical in enabling recent increases in the data density and capacity of computer hard-disk drives.
He also made key discoveries that led to IBM's pioneering use of the giant magnetoresistive (GMR) effect to read disk-drive data bits that were far smaller than could have been previously detected.
Parkin currently is studying magnetic tunnel junctions—which require just a few atomic layers of an electrical insulator between magnetic layers to create large resistance changes perpendicular to the layers' planes—and their use in both disk-drive recording heads more sensitive than GMR heads, as well as a new type of solid-state, non-volatile, magnetic random access memory (MRAM). Tunnel-junction heads may enable data-storage densities beyond 100 billion bits per square inch, while magnetic RAM chips could lead to instant-on computers with much better performance, energy-efficiency and battery life.
Parkin was elected to IBM's Academy of Technology in 1997 and was named one of IBM's Master Inventors. In 1999 he was named an IBM Fellow—IBM's highest technical honor—and in May 2000 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (London). R&D Magazine named Parkin "Innovator of the Year" in 2001.
A native of Watford, England, Parkin received a Ph.D. in 1980 from the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England. He joined IBM in 1982 as a World Trade Postdoctoral Fellow, becoming a permanent member of the staff the following year.
For more information about the Rustgi lecture, call 645-2017, or email Michael Fuda, professor of physics, at fuda@buffalo.edu.
Social Work to hold Alumni Day
The School of Social Work will celebrate its sixth annual Alumni Day from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. today with a series of events to be held in the Buffalo Niagara Marriott, 1340 Millersport Highway.
The event, held each year to reconnect alumni with the UB School of Social Work as well as each other, and to encourage social workers to remain connected to UB, will begin with a luncheon at noon, which will be followed by two workshops to be held from 1:15-3 p.m.
"Traumatized Communities," will be a two-part workshop that looks at the emotional impact trauma has on children and its pervasiveness in our society.
The first part, "Evidence-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy of Trauma," will be presented by David M. Pratt, a clinician in private practice and licensed psychologist with Western New York's Children's Psychiatric Center. He will look at evidence-based cognitive behavioral treatments for trauma for clinicians interested in treating young people.
The second part, "How Trauma Exposure Impacts Children, the Adults Who Care for Them and the Professionals Who Serve Them," will be presented by Trina M. Laughlin, director of the family violence program in Rochester's Society for the Protection and Care of Children. Her lecture will focus on the many ways people are negatively impacted by trauma and the bio-psycho-emotional components of traumatic response.
A second workshop, "Consultation with Severe Trauma Exposed Social Workers," will be presented by Joanne H. Twombly, a clinician in private practice in Waltham, Mass. Her workshop will provide an overview of the kinds of issues that emerge for clinicians working with complex cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative disorders, as well as strategies to improve clinicians' performance, facilitate professional growth and reduce burnout and secondary PTSD.
The Alumni Day keynote address will be presented at 3:30 p.m. by Michael Weiner, commissioner of the Erie County Department of Social Services, who will discuss "A Changing Political Environment: The Impact on Social Services," a look at how new legislative initiatives will impact how social services are structured and funded, as well as how they are delivered.
A reception will follow the day's presentations.
UB to hold Community Forum
The Office of Community Relations will host the sixth Annual UB Community Forum from 7-9 p.m. today in 105 Harriman Hall, South Campus.
This year's discussion, "Knowing Your Neighborhood: Using Information to Preserve Quality of Life," will provide community members with tips on how to gather information and use it to help address common neighborhood quality-of-life issues and promote neighborhood assets.
Community members will share how they stay "in the know" about where they live and how they have used this knowledge to sustain neighborhood quality of life.
The event is presented by the Office of Community Relations in partnership with Gloria J. Parks Community Center, the University District Councilmember's office, the UB Regional Institute, the UB Center for Urban Studies, UB Student Affairs and the University Heights Collaborative. This event is free and open to the public. To register, call 829-3520 or send an email to beal@buffalo.edu.
For more information about UB's community outreach, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/ community.
Native-American approach to ecology to be discussed
Plant ecologist Robin Kimmerer, director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will discuss "Native Knowledge for Native Ecosystems: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Environmental Restoration" at 3 p.m. tomorrow in 222 Natural Sciences Complex, North Campus.
Kimmerer's research interests include the ecology of mosses and the role of traditional ecological knowledge in ecological restoration.
In collaboration with tribal partners, she and her students have an active research program in the ecology and restoration of plants of cultural significance to native people.
An enrolled member of the Citizen Band Potawatomi, she is the past chair and co-founder of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) section of the Ecological Society of America. TEK is described as the knowledge, practice and belief of living beings and their relationship to the environment among peoples directly dependent on local resources.
Her book "Gathering Moss" was awarded the 2005 John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing.
The talk is sponsored by the Environment and Society Institute; the Program in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior; and the departments of American Studies, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering and Geology. It is part of UB's celebration this semester of its environmental commitment under the theme "A Greener Shade of Blue."
For more information on these and other environmental events at UB, please go to http://www.buffalo.edu/ greener_ub.
Hammer to screen films at UB
Internationally acclaimed feminist filmmaker Barbara Hammer will present a "miniretrospective" of her work during a visit to UB on April 5.
Hammer, a pioneer of feminist film who continues to break new ground in gay and lesbian cinema, will show a survey of her short 16mm films as part of a course on "Women Directors" taught by Caroline Koebel, assistant professor in the Department of Media Study, College of Arts and Sciences.
The screening, which will feature the films "Menses" (1974), "Double Strength" (1978), "Endangered" (1988) and "Sanctus" (1990), will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts, North Campus. It is free and open to the public.
Hammer will screen her newest feature documentary, "Lover Other," at 8 p.m. April 5 in Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, 341 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, in The Church at Delaware and Tupper. Tickets for the Hallwalls screening are $7 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors, and $4 for Hallwalls members.
Hammer's visit to UB and Hallwalls was co-organized by Koebel, Ruth Goldman and Carolyn Tennant, media arts director for Hallwalls, and is co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Media Study, the Department of Visual Studies and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Graduate Student Association, all at UB.