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Work by Huang to be displayed
"Bingyi: The Dawns Here are Quiet," an exhibition of work by Bingyi Huang, assistant professor in the Department of Visual Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, will open in the Second-Floor Gallery of the UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts with a public reception at 5 p.m. today in the gallery.
The exhibition will be on view through May 19. It then will travel to Ethan Cohen Fine Arts in New York City for an exhibition May 31 through June 31.
Much of Huang's subject matter draws heavily from media representations of global politics and ideological conflicts that she pares down to a few enigmatic details. For instance, "Central Park" (2006) features a bear sleeping peacefully in the center of a billowy forest of charcoal grey trees. An ominous blue bird flies overhead as a camouflaged predator approaches. This image refers to a coyote that, having found its way into New York's popular Olmstead park in 2006 from upstate New York, was hunted down by police and died in captivity just before its release back into woods.
Huang has explicitly embraced politics in paintings such as "Space Garbage" (2007), which depicts the trash that the world's super powers have left in orbit, such as abandoned space stations. While a condition of helpless absurdity informs these works, there also is a calming beauty and breathtaking silence that permeates her shadowy expanses. Her paintings can be read as either a nihilistic treatise on alienation, or rather, an awakening that comes from relinquishing one's ego and becoming an infinitesimal dot in the galaxy.
Huang has worked with a number of media, including fiction, poetry, fashion and film, but it is in painting that she has found her most powerful expression. She earned a bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College and master's and doctoral degrees in art history from Yale University. She has curated various exhibitions both in the U. S. and China, including serving as curator of cinema for "The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art" in 2005. "The Wall" was the first collaboration between U.S. art museums and a significant Chinese art museum to focus on contemporary Chinese art.
"Bingyi: The Dawns Here are Quiet" is part of UB's celebration this semester of its environmental commitment under the theme "A Greener Shade of Blue."
PSS to hold meeting
The Professional Staff Senate will hold a general membership meeting from 3-5 p.m. April 26 in the Center for Tomorrow, North Campus.
The guest speakers will be Jorge José, vice president for research, and Charles Kaars, assistant vice president for sponsored programs administration.
All members of the professional staff are invited to attend.
For more information, contact the PSS office at 645-2003.
Dance performance to be held
Young Choreographers Showcase, a dance concert of new works by invited, advanced-level UB choreography students, will be presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance April 27-29 in the Black Box Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
Performances are at 8 p.m. April 27 and 28, and at 2 p.m. April 28 and 29.
The performance will present works that explore a variety of subjects, including the subtleties between grace and power, gender and movement behaviors, grief's journey, life's oppositions and pushing the boundaries of female physicality. The program will includes projected images set pieces and a variety of music styles.
The concert is directed by Melanie Aceto, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance.
All seats are $8. Tickets may be obtained at the CFA box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including Ticketmaster.com.
Entrepreneurship contest set
Five teams of students and alumni from UB will compete for cash and services in excess of $40,000 in the final round of the annual Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition from 3-7 p.m. Wednesday in the Jacobs Executive Development Center, 672 Delaware Ave.
The team that presents the best business plan for a commercially viable technology will win a prize package that includes $25,000 in seed funding and one year of legal services from Jaeckle Fleischmann and Mugel, valued at $5,000. The second-place team will receive $10,000 in seed funding.
The Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition was created by the School of Management and the Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach, and funded with a $1 million endowment from the late Henry A. Panasci Jr. to facilitate and promote the commercialization of UB-generated technologies. It also is designed to bring graduate-level students from science and technology disciplines together with M.B.A. students to maximize their business and scientific potential to create viable businesses in Western New York.
This year's finalists are drawn from a variety of academic disciplines at UB and were chosen based on the content of their written business plans.
Each of the five teams will deliver 10-minute presentations and will be evaluated on how well they describe the feasibility and marketability of their venture, prove the need for their product or service and present potential sources of capital. Judging the competition will be Robert H. Fritzinger, chairman, Zenhire Inc.; Thaddeus H. Grasela Jr., president and CEO, Cognigen Corp.; James Hengst, president and CEO, ZeptoMetrix; Marnie LaVigne, director of business development, New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences; Mel E. Passarelli, vice president of worldwide sales, Vistagy Inc.; and Brian Pearson, president, Valuation Advisors LLC. Winners will be announced at the event shortly after the last presentation.
Those interested in attending the presentations should register with the UB Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at 885-5715 or mgt-cel@buffalo.edu.
Gift to promote economic development
A major gift from Frederick J. Kogut, who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from UB in 1960 and 1965, respectively, will help promote rural development in Third World countries, especially on the African continent, as well as helping rural communities in upstate New York.
The gift, named in honor of his late brother, Joseph W. Kogut, who graduated from UB in 1966, will establish the Joseph W. Kogut Economic Development Award in the Department of Economics, College of Arts and Sciences. Joseph Kogut died on May 1, 2005.
"I'm honored to be able to establish this fund in my brother's name," said Frederick Kogut. "He was passionate about volunteerism in rural communities and would be humbled by the thought of enabling similar experiences for UB students."
A third Kogut brother, Kenneth, also attended UB, earning a bachelor's degree in 1964. All three brothers played football for the university and were members of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
The Kogut award will be presented to a student majoring in economics who wishes to enhance his or her experience beyond the classroom by engaging in efforts related to improving the economic development of two disparate areas of special interest to Joseph Kogut: Africa, where he spent time as a member of the Peace Corps, or his hometown region of upstate New York. The award also will support a student's desire to join the Peace Corps, conduct independent research or participate in an internship related to rural development.
"We are grateful for Frederick's gift in memory of his brother," said Bruce D. McCombe, CAS dean. "His recognition of Joseph's commitment to promoting economic development resonates with UB's commitment to, and strategic strength in, civic engagement with the regional, national and international communities we serve."
After Joseph Kogut graduated from UB with a bachelor's degree in economics, he served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and Nigeria for three years. His specialty was rural development, focusing specifically on fish ponds in Nigeria and coffee plantations in Ethiopia. Following his return to the United States, Kogut became a partner in Kogut Electric Inc., in Utica, a company founded after World War II by his father and uncle.
IUCB sponsors conference
The Industry/University Center for Biosurfaces (IUCB), a National Science Foundation industry/university cooperative research center headquartered at UB, will sponsor a research summit examining the causal relationships between patient factors and clinical outcomes for hip, knee, spine, and vascular implants on May 4 at the center's site at the University of Memphis.
Conference co-chairs are Robert Baier, IUCB executive director and professor of oral diagnostic sciences in the UB School of Dental Medicine; Richard R. Tarr, president and executive director of the InMotion Musculoskeletal Institute; and M. Shah Jahan, chair of the Department of Physics and IUCB site director at the University of Memphis.
Conference participants include experts from academia, medicine and business who are at the cutting edge of outcomes research, product development, and patient care, They will review the effects that patient factors have on device performance. Age, systemic disease, prior trauma, activity level, gender, mental health status and other patient-specific factors will be critically examined through a series of panel discussions and keynote addresses in order to highlight the performance predictors.
This first-of-its-kind event brings together specialists in hip, knee, and spine implants and vascular grafts and likely will influence the design and development of next generation implants and treatment regimens in this highly complex field, Baier says.
"Importance of Being Earnest" to be performed
The Department of Theatre and Dance will present one of the most-beloved British comedies, Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," today through Sunday in the Drama Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
Performances are at 8 p.m. today, tomorrow and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The cast is composed of B.F.A. and B.A. students in the Department of Theatre and Dance. Gregory Natale, adjunct instructor in the Department of Theatre and Dance and associate director of the Irish Classical Theatre Company, is directing the production.
The play follows the exploits of two friends, Algernon and Jack, as they try to negotiate their double lives and hopes for love and fortune. Wilde's masterpiece is considered to be one of the greatest comedies of all time, having delighted audiences with its verbal wit and repartee for more than a century.
Tickets are $16 for the general public and $8 for students and seniors and may be obtained at the CFA box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including Ticketmaster.com.
UB Art Gallery to host Earth Day events
The UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts will host two Earth Day events tomorrow.
Both events, which are free and open to the public, will take place in the Second Floor Gallery.
Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji, CEO, Rural Africa Water Development Project, Nigeria, will speak on "Low Cost Water Treatment for Oil Producing Communities" from 11 a.m. to noon.
The talk is sponsored by the Environment and Society Institute and Engineers for a Sustainable World.
At 2 p.m., Debora Van Nijnatten, professor in the Department of Political Science and program coordinator, for North American Studies at Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, will discuss "A Greener Shade of (Tory) Blue: The Politics of Climate Change in Stephen Harper's Canada."
The talk is sponsored by the Canada-U.S. Legal Studies Centre and the UB Law School.
For more information please visit http://www.buffalo.edu/ greener_ub
Russ to head UB Women's Club
Alice Russ will be installed as president of the UB Women's Club at the club's spring installation luncheon, to be held at 11:30 a.m. May 5 in the Center for Tomorrow, North Campus.
Other officers for 2007-08 who will be installed at the luncheon are Joan Ryan, vice president; Ellen Pierno and Joan Doyle, co-treasurers; Marion Schultz, recording secretary; Margaret Jusko, corresponding secretary; and members at large Patricia Marini, Lois Kelly and Joan Roy.
The cost of the luncheon is $20; reservations are required.
The club also will hold its annual spring flower sale from noon to 5 p.m. May 9 in the Center for Tomorrow. Proceeds will benefit the Grace Capen Academic Award Fund.
To pre-order flowers, make luncheon reservations or obtain information on club membership or activities, contact Joan Ryan at 626-9332 or meryan@buffalo.edu.